Abortion access in North Carolina may hinge on governor's race, bellwether for the nation

RALEIGH, N.C. — Along with hosting one of the nation’s most competitive races for governor and serving as a make-or-break state for either party’s road to the White House, North Carolina will offer one of the latest referendums on abortion in 2024.

As is the case in many post-Roe elections following the Supreme Court's 2022 controversial decision to overturn nearly fifty years of federally protected abortion access, the issue has emerged as a hot button in North Carolina’s gubernatorial race.

Republicans’ expected frontrunner, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has indicated he could support a total statewide ban on abortion.

“We need to stand up and declare that life begins in the womb. Life does not begin when Roy Cooper says it begins,” Robinson told a congregation at Winkler’s Grove Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina during his 2020 campaign for lieutenant governor.

“For me, there is no compromise on abortion. It makes no difference to me why or how that child ended up in that womb.”

More: Southern Democrat vs. MAGA Republican: Why NC governor race is a defining contest for 2024

North Carolina’s legislature last summer passed a 12-week ban with limited exceptions in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother. A GOP supermajority in the state House and Senate continues to stymie Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s attempts to veto the measure.

North Carolina Attorney General and Democratic candidate Josh Stein is heavily favored to face Robinson in November. Stein has jumped on using the issue of abortion and Robinson’s past statements against his opponent.

“It is wrong. All of it is wrong. All of it is backwards. All of it must be stopped,” Stein told a cheering crowd in Washington, North Carolina, last Monday.

Robinson’s record on abortion

Since his remarks four years ago and during his campaign for governor, Robinson has largely softened his language on abortion.

“Even if I did pass a law saying you can’t have an abortion, someone’s still going to go to Georgia or Florida or somewhere and have their abortion — or New York. That’s not how you save lives,” Robinson told an audience of Charlotte Rotary Club members last August.

And Robinson’s campaign has said publicly that the gubernatorial candidate would support a ban after a fetal heartbeat is detected, often six weeks, with exceptions for “extreme situations,” including rape, incest or life of the mother.

Robinson has also addressed his own experience with abortion decades ago.

Before announcing his run for governor, Robinson confirmed, after an old Facebook post of his resurfaced, that in 1989, he paid for his then-girlfriend and now-wife to have an abortion.

“It was the hardest decision we have ever made. Sadly, we made the wrong one,” Robinson said, appearing beside his wife, Yolanda, in a video posted to social media in March 2022. “It’s because of this experience and our spiritual journey that we are so adamantly pro-life.”

Tara Romano, executive director of Pro-Choice North Carolina, said Robinson’s experience highlights the personal nature of deciding to have an abortion.

“It’s become so politicized. But I think a lot of people, when they find themselves in that situation, politics, it’s not really what they’re thinking about,” Romano said.

What North Carolinians say about abortion

Still, the stakes for abortion access in North Carolina extend up and down the ballot in 2024, Romano said, and the issue is expected to be particularly salient in the race for governor.

When it comes to Robinson’s position, Romano said she takes his previous statements at face value.

“If he says he wants to ban all abortion, and there’s an opportunity for him to do that, we’re just going to have the mindset that that is what he will try to do,” she said.

Sloan Duvall, a junior at the University of North Carolina and president of her school’s Young Democrats, said she expects abortion and women’s rights to resonate with and rally young voters in the state.

“It’s incredibly scary to see what’s going on across the country. And we are on the brink of that in North Carolina,” Duvall, 21, said, referencing the legislature’s 12-week ban.

“That’s not what North Carolinians want,” she added. “And I think we could see our state heading down a very dark path for women’s rights if Mark Robinson is elected.”

Other North Carolinians, like Monica and Gerald Pittman of Kenly, North Carolina, say Robinson’s hardline stance is exactly why they want the Republican to be their next governor.

“The person I want in any office is the one that votes their conscience and what they really feel is best for our country or our state,” Gerald Pittman, 72, said.

More: House Democrats plan their 2024 comeback on abortion, economy and contrast with GOP

Monica Pittman, 67, said she likes that Robinson held his ground opposing abortion, regardless of “a lot of grief” from others in the state.

“We need somebody who is genuine and authentic and to tell us what they’re going to do. We got enough lying politicians in this country,” she said.

‘Stark’ contrast between the candidates

Abortion is just one of many issues where the presumptive gubernatorial candidates stand deeply divided. Robinson and Stein, also of sharply contrasting backgrounds, have clashed on the economy and immigration, which Republicans are expected to use to energize their base in 2024.

Stein and Democrats, meanwhile, will likely continue to rally around reproductive rights in the lead-up to November.

When asked by one voter about the recent Alabama IVF ruling during a campaign stop Monday, Stein said if governor, he would veto any legislation that “tries to restrict women’s reproductive freedoms, whether that is IVF, whether that’s contraception or whether it’s abortion.”

More: Senate Republicans support IVF – but most won't back national protections after Alabama ruling

The attorney general added that to do so, Democrats will also need to break the current Republican supermajority, which held Cooper back from overruling North Carolina’s recent abortion legislation.

North Carolina Right to Life, a nonpartisan group, say abortion will be a key issue in this election and that they are focused on educating voters on what they call "a clear contrast" between the candidates' positions.

"The country needs to come together on the issues that we agree upon," Natalie Sonnen, director of outreach for the organization, said in a written statement to USA TODAY. "We can all agree to support women in their unplanned pregnancies and not present them with only one choice, the choice to kill their unborn child in their womb."

Romano also called the difference between Stein and his likely opponent "very stark" and said she expects the issue to be prominent in 2024.

“They do have markedly different opinions on abortion access,” she said. “I do think it is going to be something that we’ll be talking about and that a lot of voters will be talking about as they think about who they’re going to vote for for governor.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abortion to be center issue in North Carolina governor race