Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says he would sign 6-week abortion bill

CHARLOTTE — No issue has dominated North Carolina’s gubernatorial election as much as abortion. After the reversal of Roe v. Wade, North Carolina Republicans passed a ban on most abortions after 12 weeks. For the past few months, advertisements on abortion have dominated North Carolina’s airwaves.

In an exclusive interview with Hunter Sáenz for The Political Beat, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson clarified his stance on abortion after airing an ad that says he stands with the current law.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein hit Robinson for weeks with an ad featuring Robinson saying, “Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers, it’s about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep you skirt down.”

Robinson then countered with an ad with his wife, sharing their abortion story and saying he is in favor of what’s currently on the books.

“I stand by our current law,” he said in the ad. “It provides common sense exceptions, life of the mother, incest and rape.”

But then last week, an anti-Robinson group posted audio of the lieutenant governor saying he hasn’t changed his stance and that he would like to stop as many abortions as he can.

“Do I want to continue to lower it? You better know it,” he said. “I would like to get down to six weeks and I would like to get down to zero weeks.”

“You say you stand with the current state law banning most abortions at 12 weeks, and you support common sense exceptions, but a recording from just a few weeks ago was put out where you were caught saying, ‘I would love to get down to six weeks, and I’d like to get down to zero.’ Can you clear this up? Where do you stand on abortion,” Sáenz asked Robinson.

“I am a no compromise person when it comes to abortion. That is my personal and religious opinion, but that is part and parcel, separate from my duty as an elected official, it is my duty of as an elected official to number one, put my opinion on the table with 120 House members and 50 senators, and number two live with the consensus that comes off that table,” Robinson said. “Now I have to make up my mind whether or not I’m going to be mature enough as an elected official to live with consensus or fight it. I am mature enough to live with consensus. That is why I support a 12-week decision that was made after a long and healthy debate, and that is the reason why we will continue to do what we need to do, what we believe we need to do to save lives in the womb.”

“So let me ask it this way, if you win and you become governor and the legislature passes a six-week ban, would you sign it into law?” Sáenz asked Robinson. “We don’t consider it a six-week ban. We would consider a six-week law, but we absolutely would, because that’s what we pushed for.”

Stein has previously told the Political Beat he is opposed to additional abortion restrictions. On Friday, his campaign sent Channel 9 a statement saying: “Mark Robinson keeps lying to voters. He’s already said that if elected, he would sign a complete ban on abortion without exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother. North Carolinians will not be fooled, and this November, they will reject his extremism.”

Abortion was one topic in a wide-ranging interview with Robinson. On Monday on Eyewitness News starting at 5, Sáenz will share more of his interview with Robinson. The complete interview will air Sunday, September 22 on The Political Beat at 12 and 11:30 pm on WSOC and 10:30 pm on TV64.

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