Source: AP News
As we get closer to November, Republicans have been running away from their anti-choice records, hoping voters will overlook their controversial stance against reproductive rights. Not only has Trump attempted to scrub his image clean, but North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson has conveniently shifted to a moderate stance on abortion in a new ad.
Last week, Robinson released a new campaign advertisement for his bid for governor, in which he and his wife talked about their decision to have an abortion decades ago. The ad comes after Robinson promised at a campaign rally to completely ban access to abortion for North Carolinians if he becomes governor.
Much like state Republican leaders, Robinson has long opposed the right to choose, spoken at anti-abortion rallies, and has shared controversial remarks about individuals seeking care.
According to The Charlotte Observer, Robinson has stated that he’d like abortion to be banned in all circumstances, including rape and incest.
“For me, there is no compromise on abortion. It makes no difference to me why or how that child ended up in that womb,” Robinson stated in a speech at a church during his run for lieutenant governor in 2020.
“Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers,” Robinson stated in a video. “It is about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”
With a majority of Americans opposed to a federal abortion ban, and as a rising number support access to abortions for any reason, political views shared by Republicans like Robinson, are running at a complete contrast to what voters believe.
“If North Carolinians want to know where Mark Robinson really stands on abortion, they should listen to every other comment he’s made on the issue before today,” stated Morgan Hopkins, campaign spokesperson for Democratic nominee Josh Stein, in a statement Friday.
“Mark Robinson knows North Carolinians can’t stomach his beliefs that abortion should be banned ‘for any reason’ and that women have abortions because they ‘can’t keep their skirts down,’ so he has resorted to running from his record and misleading voters.”
According to the Associated Press, in June, Hopkins stated that Stein “supports the Roe v. Wade framework of the past 50 years that protects women’s reproductive freedoms and restricts abortion later in pregnancy unless a woman’s life or health is at risk.” Robinson, a close ally of Trump, has also come under fire for his other positions and comments, including his questioning of the Holocaust, mocking school shooting victims, his belief that the country’s politics were better back when women couldn’t vote, and downplaying sexual assault allegations.
