North Carolina anti-abortion lt gov once said in a Facebook post he had paid for an abortion

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R), who has publicly spoken out against abortion, admitted in a newly uncovered Facebook post from 2012 that he once paid a woman to have the procedure in 1989, NBC affiliate WRAL reported. 

“I’m not saying abortion is wrong cause I said so it’s wrong cause God says so,” Robinson wrote on his personal Facebook account in August 2012. 

He later responded in the comments on the post, saying, “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.”

A Twitter user posted a screenshot on Tuesday of Robinson’s social media comment from his original Facebook account. 

In the conversation, Robinson asked another user, “How can so many people ‘Praise God’ with their mouths then vote for a man who supports gay marriage and abortion with their hands,” in reference to former President Obama, according to Axios.

In a separate Facebook post, Robinson again mentioned the same claim of paying a woman to have an abortion, stating that he regrets the decision. 

“It’s wrong when others do it and it was wrong when I ( YES I ) paid to have MY own child aborted in 1989,” Robinson wrote. “If you don’t like post like these I suggest you unfreind me because I WILL continue to post anti abortion messages. If they offend you I do applogize.”

In a video response on Thursday, Robinson identified the woman as his wife and said getting that abortion was the “hardest decision” they ever made, noting that it turned them into anti-abortion activists.

“We know the pain that an abortion causes for everyone that has had this experience and carries that burden,” Robinson said in the Facebook post along with his wife Yolanda. “We want you to know not alone.

“Our hope is that by telling our story it may change the lives of others. To everyone who reached out to show us and our families support. Thank you. God bless you all,” Robinson concluded.

Robinson, who was elected in 2020, gained headlines for running on an anti-abortion campaign platform and has continued to speak out against abortions at political rallies, according to WRAL. 

“We allow the murder of the most innocent human beings on earth and we do it with impunity,” Robinson said at a North Carolina GOP convention last June. 

In a statement, the North Carolina GOP (NCGOP) declined to comment further on Robinson’s past remarks, citing it as a “personal matter.” 

“As it is a personal matter, NCGOP will not be commenting,” NCGOP spokesperson Jeff Moore wrote in an emailed statement. “We will defer to Lt. Gov. Robinson.”

The comments from Robinson, who is considered to be one of the front-runners for his party’s nomination in North Carolina’s gubernatorial race in 2024, on his Facebook account still remain live and public, WRAL noted.

–Updated on March 24 at 11:19 a.m.