At March for Life, Robinson says he wants NC to be a destination for life, not abortion
About a thousand people marched through downtown Raleigh on Saturday calling for an end to abortion. It was North Carolina Right to Life’s 25th Annual Rally and March for Life, and the first since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to put abortion restrictions in the hands of state legislatures.
The keynote speaker at the rally on Halifax Mall, which is behind the Legislative Building, was Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the presumed Republican frontrunner for the 2024 governor’s race.
Robinson said North Carolina should be a destination state “for life,” not abortion.
Current state law bans abortion in most cases after 20 weeks. Neighboring states have stricter laws. The General Assembly has a Republican supermajority in the Senate and a majority in the House. Both Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore have said they want to pass a law this legislative session that tightens abortion restrictions.
Robinson was born in 1968, five years before the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. He said that if his mother had been counseled by an abortion provider in 1968 to end her pregnancy, they would have told her that she was poor, Black and about to have her ninth of 10 children.
“Had my mother followed such evil advice, I would not be standing before you right now, having made history in this state as the first Black lieutenant governor of North Carolina,” Robinson said.
“Children would not be able to flip open the history books and see that a poor child, number nine out of 10 children from a small town in North Carolina, could grow up to be the lieutenant governor of this state, quite possibly the governor of this state,” he said to cheers from the crowd.
Robinson has said several times in the past year that he is interested in running for governor but has stopped short of actually declaring his candidacy. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is in his second term and cannot run for a third consecutive term. Robinson has received attention during his term as lieutenant governor for his anti-LGBTQ comments and support for an anti-Critical Race Theory bill that would regulate how race is taught in schools.
Robinson went on to say that “abortion is not compatible with this nation, the same way slavery was not compatible with this nation. We speak of life and liberty, how can you have life and liberty if you end life in the womb, and do not give people their freedom after they’re born? This nation is built on those ideals. And so we have to stand up for life.”
He did not mention his own experience with abortion in his speech.
In March 2022, Robinson confirmed that he and his wife, Yolanda, decided to end her pregnancy in abortion before they were married. “It was the hardest decision we have ever made,” Robinson said in a video he posted last year. “Sadly, we made the wrong one. This decision has been with us ever since. It’s because of this experience and our spiritual journey, that we are so adamantly pro-life,” he said at the time.
During Robinson’s speech on Saturday, he talked more broadly about “standing up for life,” saying it should be through life beyond just conception.
“Once that child is born, once that child comes into the earth, that child’s going to need health care, that child’s going to need an education, that child is going to need housing, and we need to make sure that if we’re fighting to bring these children into the world, that we’re also fighting to provide them with a type of life that is going to allow them to be successful. So that they can have life, they can have liberty and they can pursue their happiness,” Robinson said.
He said rather than North Carolina becoming “a destination state for abortion” because of more restrictions in nearby states, he wants the state to be a “destination state for life.”
Robinson said he believes that North Carolina “can be a leader in the charge to stand up for life and to ensure people don’t go to the abortion clinics — not because there’s a law — but simply because they don’t want to. Because North Carolina is a place that makes life worth living, and life worth giving.”
Many marchers from Catholic churches
Many of the marchers attend churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, which encompasses the eastern half of the state.
Margareta Thorsen and Lisa Duer, both members of St. Therese Catholic Church in Mooresville, attended their first March for Life this year as part of their church’s Respect for Life Committee.
Thorsen said abortion should “not be a form of birth control. I think there are other options, like adoption or abstinence.”
She said her daughter is an unwed mother, and they supported her and their first grandchild.
Duer said she also was an unwed mother and “as a lifelong Catholic, I myself have been in the position to make a choice, and I chose life.”
A mother of two, Duer said she just had a new grandchild “who wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t chosen life.” She said she was told that as an unwed mother she wouldn’t find love and a man who would help her, “and that’s so not what happened. My husband was so supportive and accepting. A beautiful story.”
Members of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s organization, were also on hand at the rally and march.
Rick Lewis of Apex said that while there is a focus on abortion during the March for Life and he supports the law being in the hands of the states now, “it’s about all aspects of life.” He said that includes euthanasia and the death penalty, which Catholics oppose.
Joe McCarthy of Raleigh said he has come to appreciate how important life is, and to support life “in all its stages.”
After the rally, the Knights of Columbus led marchers, which grew from hundreds to around a thousand people, across Halifax Mall and into the streets downtown, which were closed off around the state government complex.
March and opposition
Marchers carried signs that said “Defend Life,” “Jesus is Lord,” “Stop Abortion Now,” “Justice for All,” “I Demand Protection at Conception” and “We Vote Pro-Life.” Once the march was underway, marchers were generally quiet, some praying the rosary together, others chanting “Pro! Life!” or banging a drum.
However, once marchers left Halifax Mall behind the Legislative Building, they were met with a few dozen counter-protesters across the street calling out “My body, my choice!” and other comments to the marchers. Police kept the two groups separate as marchers continued up Lane Street and past the Governor’s Mansion, then around the block past the State Capitol grounds and back to Halifax Mall, where the march ended.
Marchers also were met by a few reproductive rights advocates along the way. One was Hannah Concannon, a medical school student. She held a sign that read “Abortion is Essential Healthcare.”
“I believe very strongly that abortion is essential to people’s health care,” Concannon said, and said she has heard about necessary health care being delayed to pregnant people in other states because of abortion laws.
“I’m honestly terrified that’s going to come here. I’m looking at entering a profession for the rest of my life where I want to be able to do what’s best for my patients, and I need the freedom of choice to do that,” she said.
This story was originally published January 14, 2023 at 5:56 PM with the headline "At March for Life, Robinson says he wants NC to be a destination for life, not abortion."
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