RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson confirmed on Thursday that his wife had an abortion before they were married, saying the couple made the decision together.
In a video posted on Facebook, Robinson said the decision he and his wife made to terminate her pregnancy was “the hardest decision we have ever made, and sadly, we made the wrong one.”
“This decision has been with us ever since,” Robinson said while sitting next to his wife, Yolanda Robinson, who did not speak in the video.
Robinson, who is serving his first term as lieutenant governor after being elected in 2020, is known for his socially conservative stances, including opposition to abortion.
The abortion took place in 1989, a year before he and his wife got married. Robinson mentioned it in a Facebook comment in August 2012. The comment surfaced this week after a screenshot of it was shared by an unnamed Twitter user.
“I’m not saying abortion is wrong cause I said so it’s wrong cause God says so. It’s wrong when others do it and it was wrong when I paid for it to be done to my unborn child in 1989,” the comment, posted from Robinson’s personal account, said.
In the video Thursday, Robinson did not say what led he and his wife to end her pregnancy, or how far along her pregnancy was when they decided to have the abortion.
“It’s because of this experience and our spiritual journey, that we are so adamantly pro-life,” Robinson said. “We know what it’s like to be in that situation, and we know the pain that an abortion causes. For everyone that has had this experience, and carries that burden, we want you to know, you are not alone.”
As lieutenant governor and as a candidate, Robinson has repeatedly spoken out against abortion.
In January 2021, soon after taking office, Robinson spoke at an annual anti-abortion rally organized by North Carolina Right to Life in downtown Raleigh.
“There is no greater mission on earth than standing up for the most defenseless among us,” Robinson said at the time. “We cannot say we believe in equality, we cannot say that Black lives matter or all lives matter or blue lives matter until we say unborn lives matter, because that is where it all starts.”
Earlier this month, Robinson was a keynote speaker at the Wake County GOP convention in Raleigh. Robinson said that in order for them to continue winning elections, Republicans would need to have a clear vision. As part of that, Robinson mentioned a future in which “babies in the womb in North Carolina will be safe from the abortion clinics’ knives,” and the safest place “for an unborn child will be in his mother’s womb.”
“That’s a vision that we as Republicans have in this state, and hope to see one day in this state,” Robinson said.
Several Democrats, including Sen. Jay Chaudhuri and Rep. Julie von Haefen (both of whom represent Wake County in the legislature) said the recently surfaced Facebook comments from Robinson showed that everyone needs access to abortion, even the lieutenant governor.
Rep. Deborah Ross, who represents Wake County in Congress, said on Twitter that Robinson “supports a woman’s right to choose for some — but not for all.”
Ross, a first-term Democrat, voted in favor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would prohibit states from restricting access to abortion. The bill passed the U.S. House in September but stalled in the Senate in February when Democrats were unable to reach the 60-vote threshold to hold a vote on the legislation.
“We need to trust women to make their own healthcare decisions — not politicians,” Ross added in her tweet on Thursday.
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, a Republican and close ally of Robinson’s who is running for an open U.S. Senate seat from North Carolina, expressed support for Robinson after the lieutenant governor addressed the abortion on Thursday.
“Lt. Gov., what others meant for harm, you allowed God to use for good, reminding us of God’s abundant grace,” Walker said on Twitter. “Your humility empowers people who’ve experienced brokenness, you’ve showed us that all life is precious. Couldn’t be more proud of you and Yolanda.”
Chad Slotta, a former pastor from Cary and a Republican who is running in North Carolina’s newly redrawn 13th Congressional District, also expressed support for Robinson.
“I didn’t know Lt. Gov. Robinson 33 years ago,” Slotta said in a tweet. “But I know him now as a man of faith — strong, sincere, and unafraid in his convictions.”
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