Mark Robinson changed his stance on NC abortion policy. Progressive clergy have questions
Progressive clergy in Raleigh are criticizing the Republican candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, for his comments about women, LGBTQ+ people and what they describe as Christian nationalism.
And they are questioning Robinson’s apparent change of heart on the issue of abortion.
“Honestly, I have no faith in Mark Robinson’s new commitment to uphold the state’s current abortion law allowing access up to 12 weeks,” the Rev. Chalice Overy said.
“And the reason I have no faith in this is because Mark Robinson has given no explanation of what has sparked his change of heart from earlier in the year, when he outlines a plan to get it down from 12 weeks to six weeks, and then go on from there,” she said.
Overy, associate pastor at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, said Robinson has “continually shown a disregard for the dignity and freedom of women, in particular, but a whole lot of groups.” She said that he does not represent all Christians.
Overy and other clergy spoke at a news conference Thursday in front of the N.C. Legislative Building organized by Progress NC Action. The same group held an event with clergy in Greensboro, criticizing Robinson.
Robinson and abortion
Overy referenced a new television ad in which Robinson says he will “stand by” the current abortion law, which bans abortion with exceptions after 12 weeks. That is a stark change from what his campaign described as his position only months ago, and what he has said for the past several years.
In the ad, Robinson and his wife talk about their “very difficult decision” to have an abortion 30 years ago, one that became a “silent pain between us that we never spoke of.” Robinson said that is “why I stand by our current law, and it provides common-sense exceptions for the life of the mother, incest and rape. Which gives help to mothers and stops cruel late-term abortions. When I’m governor, mothers in need will be supported.”
Robinson’s Democratic opponent in the governor’s race, Attorney General Josh Stein, has been airing an attack ad against Robinson featuring what he has said about abortion, including that women should keep your “skirt down.”
In its weekly newsletter last week, Progress NC Action wrote that “Robinson is trying to muddy the waters around his abortion position and it’s vital that we make it clear that’s exactly what he’s doing – he hasn’t had a change of heart, he hasn’t ‘softened’ his stance, he doesn’t actually ‘stand by our current law.’”
Presenting a Christian ‘counter narrative’
Rev. C.J. Brinson of Greensboro, an organizer for the progressive group Down Home North Carolina, said they want to speak out because they are “living in the Bible Belt, and there’s the assumption that the Christian nationalist faith perspective is the perspective of all Christians.”
“It is imperative in this day and age that people hear from Black men who are clergy leaders, who support women’s reproductive justice, who support queer, trans affirmation. It is important that people hear that there are Black queer women leading congregations and fellowships throughout the state of North Carolina, and that this branding of this faith is not the tradition of all of Christians in North Carolina,” Brinson told reporters.
Brinson said he wanted to present a counter-narrative to Robinson to show a “faith rooted in the ministry of Jesus that speaks to all of the marginalized communities in which we believe.”
Robinson has made many anti-LGBTQ+ comments during speeches to conservative church congregations and in social media videos. The N&O reported in 2021 that he said: “There’s no reason anybody, anywhere in America should be telling children about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. Yes, I called it filth.”
Rev. Lynice Pinkard, ordained in the United Church of Christ, said she is “unapologetically a Black woman and a queer Christian pastor.” She described Robinson’s campaign as serving Christian nationalism, which “targets and seeks to annihilate the bodies, souls and spirits of the least of these.”
Robinson campaign response
Asked for a response on the criticism of Robinson for his changed abortion stance, LGBTQ+ comments and Christian nationalism, Robinson’s campaign called Progress NC Action “completely out of step with the people of North Carolina,” and cited Facebook posts in 2020 and 2021 from the group about cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and an explanation of defunding the police.
“Progress NC Action is a far-left political group that wants to defund the police and turn North Carolina into a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants, just like Biden’s Border Czar Kamala Harris and her top cheerleader Josh Stein. They are completely out of step with the people of North Carolina,” Robinson campaign spokesperson Mike Lonergan told The N&O in a statement.
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