North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says he wants abortion to be illegal at ‘zero’ weeks, in new audio recording released by Democrats

A Democratic group has released a new audio recording of North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running for governor, saying he wants to reduce abortion restrictions to “zero” weeks.

In the audio recording, which the group said was recorded Sept. 3 at a Robinson campaign event in Troy, North Carolina, a woman asked Robinson about his position on abortion and why he supported North Carolina’s current 12-week ban on the procedure.

Robinson responded: “That 12 weeks, the exceptions for rape and incest… I’m not going to say that’s reasonable. But my faith allows me to live with that, because that’s where the consensus is. Do I want to keep reducing it? You better know. I’d like to get down to six weeks. And I’d like to get down to zero. I’d like to push it as far as possible and eliminate as many abortions as possible.”

“We can’t do it all at once,” he added. “The Democrats started with Roe v. Wade and then moved on to safety, legality and scarcity. And where did they get to? Nine months in the womb. They did it for 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 backed 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 supported maintaining North Carolina’s current restrictions. The lieutenant governor acknowledged in a television ad earlier this year that his wife had an abortion 30 years ago and has offered support for North Carolina’s current abortion restrictions, which limit the procedure to after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions in cases of rape, incest or endangering the mother’s life.

But Robinson advocates for measures that go further. He made similar comments at a campaign event in February, saying, “We’ve reduced the abortion period to 12 weeks, the next goal is to reduce it to six, and then keep moving forward from there,” in reference to abortion, a local Fox News affiliate reported.

In the audio recording shared with NBC News, Robinson also told the woman that he had “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 I think that’s the way it should be. If I’m a pastor in the pulpit, that’s what I preach. If I’m counseling someone, a young woman, 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 pastor and as an elected official he had to work with consensus.

“Today, a lot of people say, ‘Well, that’s changing your position. That’s giving up your beliefs.’ 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 that you don’t agree with and let them do it, because we don’t live in a theocracy. If we have politicians who start running the country like they run their church, then we’re going to end up like Iran. That’s not the way this country was formed.”

Stein is a strong advocate for abortion rights and has pledged to defend access to the procedure.

Asked about Robinson’s comments about reducing the number of abortions to “zero,” Mike Lonergan, communications director for Robinson’s campaign, sent a written statement.

“Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is pro-life because of the painful and difficult experiences he and his wife have gone through, and his faith,” Lonergan said in the statement. “By supporting taxpayer-funded late-term abortion on demand, Kamala Harris and Josh Stein are extremists and out of step with North Carolina voters. They are using the same strategy that failed here in 2022, and will fail again in 2024.”

“The Legislature has already spoken on this issue,” Lonergan added. “As governor, Mark Robinson will work to make North Carolina a place to live by creating a culture that is more supportive of women and families, including by supporting adoption, foster care and child care.”