A Democratic group has released new audio of North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running for governor, saying he wants to roll back abortion restrictions to “zero” weeks.
In the audio, which the group says was recorded on Sept. 3 at a Robinson campaign rally in Troy, North Carolina, a woman asked Robinson about his stance on abortion and why he supported North Carolina’s current 12-week ban on the procedure.
Robinson responded by saying, “The 12 weeks, exceptions for rape and incest… I’m not going to say it’s reasonable. But my faith allows me to live with that, because that’s where the consensus is. Do I want to keep lowering it? You know. I’d like to go to six weeks. And I’d like to go to zero. I’d like to get it down as far as I can and eliminate as many abortions as I can.”
“We can’t do it all at once,” he added. “The Democrats started with Roe v. Wade, and then they went to ‘safe, legal, and rare.’ And then they got to where? Nine months in the womb. They did it in 50 years. … And we can do it.”
The recording, which was shared with NBC News, was released by the Mark Robinson War Room, a project of the North Carolina Democratic Leadership Committee, which is supported by the Democratic Governors Association. The group said it was created for the “sole purpose of holding Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson accountable for his toxic record and dangerous agenda for North Carolina.” Robinson is running against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.
Robinson has publicly voiced his support for allowing North Carolina’s current restrictions to remain in place. The lieutenant governor acknowledged in a TV ad earlier this year that his wife had an abortion 30 years ago and offered his support for North Carolina’s current abortion restrictions, which limit the procedure after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother.
But Robinson is advocating for measures that go further. He made similar statements at a campaign event in February, saying, “We’ve got it down to 12 weeks, the next goal is to get it down to six, and then just go from there,” referring to abortion, a local Fox News affiliate reported.
In the audio shared with NBC News, Robinson also told the woman that he has not changed his position on abortion “at all” and that “there is no reason why an abortion should ever happen.”
“I’m 100 percent pro-life, and that’s the way I think it should be. When I’m a preacher in the pulpit, that’s what I preach. When I’m advising someone, a young lady, a couple, that’s what I tell them. I tell them, ‘Choose life for your child,'” he added.
Robinson then explained that he was not a minister and that as an elected official he had to work with the consensus.
“A lot of people now say, ‘Well, that’s changing your position. That’s giving up your beliefs.’ No, it’s not,” Robinson said. “You have to be an elected official. You have to be mature enough in your faith to see people doing things you don’t agree with and to let them do it, because we don’t live in a theocracy. If we have politicians who run the country the way they run their church, we’re going to end up like Iran. That’s not how this country was born.”
Stein is an outspoken supporter of abortion rights and has vowed to defend access to the procedure.
When asked about Robinson’s comments about reducing abortions to “zero,” Mike Lonergan, Robinson’s campaign communications director, sent a written statement.
“Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is pro-life because of the painful and difficult experience he and his wife had, and his faith,” Lonergan said in the statement. “By supporting taxpayer-funded, late-term abortion on demand, Kamala Harris and Josh Stein are being extreme and out of step with the voters of North Carolina. They are using the same playbook that failed here in 2022, and it will fail again in 2024.”
“The Legislature has already spoken out on this issue,” Lonergan added. “As governor, Mark Robinson will work to make North Carolina a lifetime destination by creating a culture that does more to support women and families, including encouraging adoption as well as foster care and child care.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
