Ad quotes Robinson on abortion: Women should ‘keep your skirt down.’ What else he said.
Democrat Josh Stein’s campaign is out with a million-dollar ad buy in the governor’s race against Republican candidate Mark Robinson, focused on abortion using Robinson’s own words.
The campaign is spending more than $1 million this week on the ad that is airing on a mix of broadcast, streaming and digital platforms. It shows various video clips of Robinson, who was elected lieutenant governor in 2020, talking about abortion — including in a 2019 Facebook Live video that was previously unreported.
“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 your skirt down,” a video clip of Robinson on Facebook Live shows.
The full video, which Robinson broadcast on Jan. 24, 2019, is about 20 minutes long. Before the comments, he talks about abortions in New York City.
“It kills me, somebody’s always talking about babies that are dying, and mothers that are in trouble,” Robinson said. “Everybody knows that abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers. It is about convenience. It is about abortion on demand. That is exactly what it’s about.
“It’s about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down or your pants up — and not get pregnant by your own choice, because you felt like getting your groove thing on. And now instead of taking care of that child, you want to kill that child so your life can go on, being on easy street and you can keep running to the club every Friday night.”
He goes on to say he thinks 99% of abortions are for those reasons, not because they are poor. He talks about growing up in poverty and how his mother did not choose abortion.
He also talks about a “culture of death” bringing the “wrath of God.” Robinson also says the sexual revolution of the 1960s “has ended up in broken homes and disease, AIDS, and unwanted pregnancies, massive amounts of abortion.”
Robinson has previously acknowledged that he and his now-wife, Yolanda Hill, once decided to end her pregnancy in abortion.
“It was the hardest decision we have ever made,” Robinson said in 2022. “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.”
In Robinson’s 2019 Facebook Live, he says “we are all sinners,” and urges people to ask God for forgiveness. He tells viewers he is passionate about the issue and could “go on and on and on.” He said for those who comment on his page to “come on, keep coming, keep getting mad, keep getting angry, because you ain’t changing me, you ain’t swaying me.”
After about 14 minutes, Robinson moves on to talk about gun rights and being nominated to the National Rifle Association board, and asks viewers to buy “We are the majority” T-shirts.
He ends with saying that the fight against abortion is not political, but spiritual.
In a speech at the Raleigh March for Life in January 2023, Robinson did not mention his own experience with abortion. He said 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?” The N&O previously reported.
Robinson campaign response
The Stein ad also shows a video clip of Robinson talking about abortion on the radio show of state Rep. Jeff McNeely, an Iredell County Republican.
Robinson’s campaign took issue with that part of the ad, calling it “deceptively edited.”
“Stein’s ad leads off with a deceptively edited clip meant to mislead the viewer. Once again, he is twisting words to falsely smear his opponent because he has no real plan to offer the voters,” Robinson campaign spokesperson Mike Lonergan told The N&O in a statement.
In the ad, Robinson tells McNeely that “if I had all the power right now, let’s say I was the governor, I had a willing legislature, we could pass a bill that says you can’t have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.”
On the show, Robinson goes on to say: “Would that stop abortions? No sir,” and talks about people going to other states.
In that same episode, he talks about supporting a “heartbeat” bill.
Lonergan has said that Robinson would sign a “heartbeat” ban bill. Such a law would ban abortion after cardiac activity is detected, or around five or six weeks into pregnancy. Robinson’s campaign said previously that Robinson supports exceptions to a heartbeat ban for rape, incest and the life of the mother, but not at what number of weeks’ pregnancy.
Cooper: Robinson’s ‘stunning comment’
Asked about what Robinson is shown saying in the ad — as well as Robinson saying Republicans “were right” about House Bill 2, the now-repealed “bathroom bill” that led to economic boycotts of the state — Cooper said:
“It’s just another stunning comment that shows why he should not be governor.”
Current NC abortion law
The current law in North Carolina, passed when the Republican supermajority overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto in 2023, bans abortion after 12 weeks, with exceptions up to 20 weeks for rape, incest and medical emergency; and up to 24 weeks for life-limiting fetal anomaly.
Medical emergency is defined in the law, Senate Bill 20, as “A condition which, in reasonable medical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of the pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including any psychological or emotional conditions.”
This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Ad quotes Robinson on abortion: Women should ‘keep your skirt down.’ What else he said.."
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