North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, who spoke at the GOP convention Monday, appears to have removed references to abortion from his campaign website.
When he ran for lieutenant governor, Robinson included a “pro-life” section on his “Issues” page that accused “the radical left” of believing that “low income families should abort their babies.”
Robinson is using the same web address for his gubernatorial run and recently relaunched the “Issues” page. It now makes no mention of abortion, listing only “growing our economy,” “improving our education system,” “increasing public safety” and “expanding veterans care.”
A spokesperson for Robinson did not directly answer questions about the website but said in a statement, “The legislature has already spoken on this issue.”
“As governor, Mark Robinson will work to make North Carolina a destination for life by building a culture that does more to support women and families that choose life, including bolstering adoption, as well as foster and childcare,” the spokesperson said.
The issue of abortion is playing a pivotal role in this year’s gubernatorial election as North Carolina and Virginia are the only two states in the South that still allow abortion after six weeks of gestation. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic nominee for governor, has pledged to “defend women’s reproductive freedom.”
In the past, Robinson has expressed support for “heartbeat” bills, which would ban abortion early in pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat is first detected.
After the state’s 12-week abortion ban went into effect, Robinson told a voter, “We’ve got it down to 12 weeks. The next goal is to get it down to six, and then just keep moving from there.”