WASHINGTON ― North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson baselessly claimed at a recent event that birth control is “being forced on very young ladies” and suggested it will make them want to have lots of sex.
An undercover operative from American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic research group, asked Robinson about birth control at an Aug. 26 Rockingham County meet-and-greet and secretly recorded the conversation. North Carolina is a one-party consent state, meaning it is legal to record someone as long as one person involved in the communication knows they are being recorded. HuffPost obtained a copy of the recording.
The Democratic operative told Robinson, who is currently the state’s lieutenant governor, that she was worried about young women being pressured into taking birth control and asked if there was anything he could do about it.
“The only thing I don’t like about birth control is when it’s being forced on very young ladies,” Robinson replied.
It’s not clear who he thinks is forcing birth control on young women. In fact, conservatives have been making it increasingly difficult for women to get birth control, in part by sowing misinformation about how it works. Since 2022, Republicans in at least 17 states have blocked Democrat-led efforts to pass laws aimed at ensuring women have access to birth control, per a Washington Post review of states’ legislation in June.
Robinson’s reference to “very young ladies” also implies he’s talking about children or teenagers using birth control, which echoes conservative rhetoric in the decades-old GOP war against sex education that children are being sexualized by liberal policies.
During their exchange, the Democratic operative also suggested to Robinson that young women may also be “a little bit more inclined to be promiscuous” if they use birth control. He agreed.
“I think so,” said the North Carolina Republican. “You know, those are personal opinions. But you know, working those into legislation is tricky.”
Birth control does not make young women more likely to have lots of sex. If anything, research has found that the combined hormonal birth control pill (i.e. a pill containing both estrogen and progestin) is linked toa decreased sex drive.
But that is beside the point. Women of all ages use birth control for a variety of reasons not even related to sex or preventing pregnancies, including for reducing menstrual cramps, treating heavy periods and addressing health conditions like acne, bone thinning, cysts in their ovaries or breasts, ovarian cancer and iron deficiencies.
Despite his claims that he doesn’t otherwise have a problem with birth control, Robinson has previously signaled he’s no fan of it. He’s referred to birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger and her allies as “witches” and “satanists.”
“I’m convinced that Margaret Sanger and all of her contemporaries that followed her, they were witches, all of ’em,” Robinson said on a podcast, according to a CNN report from earlier this year.
“Who else would come up with the solution, that the only solution to keep people from having unwanted pregnancies is to kill the unborn?” he continued. “It’s an idea straight from the devil.”
In still another false claim, Robinson twice told the Democratic operative that he thinks the abortion pill is “dangerous.”
The abortion pill, or abortion medication, is used to bring about an abortion in the very early stages of pregnancy — it is not the same thing as birth control. The FDA-approved pill has been used safely in the U.S. for more than 20 years.
Robinson’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Here’s the full audio recording of Robinson’s exchange with the Democratic operative:
The North Carolina Republican has a long history of saying strange and offensive thingsabout women. He is also a wild conspiracy theorist who has claimed, among other things, that Beyoncé is “satanic,” that the 1969 moon landing may have been fake and that there’s a ruling class of secretive reptiles in the United States.
Robinson is running for governor against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein. The state’s current governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, is term-limited and cannot run in November.
Stein is currently leading in the polls against Robinson. The Cook Political Report rates this governor’s race as “leaning Democrat.”
