RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson has been battered for months by his Democratic rival and other adversaries for seeking additional abortion restrictions beyond current state law and for past comments upbraiding women on the issue.
“Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers. It’s about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down," Robinson said in a Facebook video in 2019, the year before he was elected lieutenant governor in his first bid for public office. Democratic nominee Josh Stein, the current attorney general and an abortion-rights supporter, has shown the footage in ads since June.
Now Robinson is attempting to shift the broader electorate’s views of him on the issue through empathy with a new commercial starting Friday that describes his wife’s own abortion decades ago and leaves the impression he’s comfortable with the state’s current 12-week ban on most abortions.
The policy shift would be significant for Robinson, whose campaign said earlier this year that he supported an abortion ban after roughly six weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Many women don’t even know they are pregnant at six weeks. Previously, Robinson left the impression that he'd support something even more severe, saying in 2020, for example, that “for me, there is no compromise on abortion.”
For decades, the GOP campaigned on restricting abortion throughout the country. But as abortion rights have driven turnout for Democrats and appeared as a vulnerability for Republicans, Robinson’s approach reflects ongoing efforts by conservative politicians to appear moderate on abortion rights or avoid the topic altogether on the campaign trail — or otherwise risk losing at the ballot box in a post-Roe v. Wade world.
The stakes are high in North Carolina, where races for statewide office are usually close affairs and the winner of this closely watched gubernatorial campaign in November could have much to say about whether the Republican-controlled General Assembly will be able to advance its conservative agenda without resistance.
The campaign ad on television and on digital platforms shows Robinson and his wife Yolanda Hill holding hands. They discussed her abortion publicly in a 2022 video, but the potential audience now is much greater.
“Thirty years ago, my wife and I made a very difficult decision. We had an abortion," Robinson says in the ad, adding that it was like a "silent pain between us that we never spoke of."
Hill added: “It's something that stays with me forever.”
“That's why I stand by our current law,” Robinson goes on to say, pointing to what he calls “common-sense exceptions” for pregnancies through incest and rape and when the life of the mother is in danger.
Asked Friday whether Robinson was altering his views on abortion, campaign spokesperson Mike Lonergan said that “the legislature has already spoken on this issue."
In May 2023, the Republican-controlled General Assembly enacted over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto legislation that scaled back the state’s ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks of pregnancy to 12 weeks.
If elected governor, Robinson “will work to make North Carolina a destination for life by building a culture that does more to support women and families, including bolstering adoption, as well as foster and childcare,” Lonergan added.
Stein’s campaign said later Friday that the Robinson ad was the “latest example of him running away from his extreme and toxic stance on abortion.” Stein's team has alleged that Robinson would seek an abortion ban with no exceptions if elected.
“If North Carolinians want to know where Mark Robinson really stands on abortion, they should listen to every other comment he’s made on the issue before today,” Stein campaign spokesperson Morgan Hopkins said.
Former President Donald Trump has sought a more cautious stance on abortion rights this election by dodging questions and leaning on his go-to response that he brought abortion back to the states when he helped form the majority that overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
Abortion politics have been credited for turning back an anticipated red wave last year and delivering wins for Democrats in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race and in the Virginia state legislature after Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin failed to rally voters behind a proposal to ban abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions.
Cooper was barred by term limits from seeking a third consecutive term but essentially handed the Democratic baton to Stein, a former state senator who once worked under Cooper when the politician was state attorney general.
Hopkins said in June that Stein "supports the Roe v. Wade framework of the past 50 years that protects women’s reproductive freedoms and restricts abortion later in pregnancy unless a woman’s life or health is at risk.”
Such a framework generally allows for abortions in most cases through the point of viability, which is usually between 24 and 26 weeks of pregnancy. Robinson's campaign has alleged that Stein's views are extreme, saying that he supports abortion later in pregnancy entering the third trimester.
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Associated Press writer Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed to this report.
FILE - North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, right, Republican candidate for governor, kisses his wife, Yolanda Hill Robinson, after speaking at an election night event in Greensboro, N.C., March 5, 2024. A nonprofit operated by Yolanda Hill Robinson that she recently shuttered was "seriously deficient" in its recent operations, according to a state review examining how it carried out a federally funded meal program helping some child care providers. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)
LONDON (AP) — Former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, once one of the most prominent media figures in Britain, was given a suspended prison sentence Monday for images of child sexual abuse on his phone.
Edwards, 63, pleaded guilty in Westminster Magistrates’ Court in July to three counts of making indecent images of children, a charge related to photos sent to him on the WhatsApp messaging service by a man convicted of distributing images of child sex abuse.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring sentenced Edwards to a six-month prison term suspended for two years. He will be listed on a sex offenders register for seven years.
“It is not an exaggeration to say your long-earned reputation is in tatters,” Goldspring said.
Edwards' fall from grace over the past year has caused turmoil for the BBC after it was revealed the publicly funded broadcaster paid him about 200,000 pounds ($263,000) for five months of his salary after he had been arrested in November while on leave. The BBC has asked him to pay it back.
“We are appalled by his crimes,” the BBC said in a statement after the sentencing. “He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.”
Edwards had been one of the BBC’s top earners when he was suspended in July 2023 over separate claims made last year involving a teenager he allegedly paid for sexually explicit photos. Police investigated and decided not to bring charges.
Although Edwards was not publicly named at the time those allegations surfaced, his wife later revealed he was the news presenter investigated and said he was hospitalized for serious mental health issues.
He never returned to the air but the BBC kept him on the payroll until he resigned in April for health reasons.
Edwards began his BBC career in Wales four decades ago. He went on to become lead anchor on the nighttime news for two decades and led the coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 as well as election coverage.
The BBC said at the time of his guilty plea that it was shocked to hear the details of the charges against him.
More than 375 sexual images were sent to him on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021. More than 40 were indecent images of children, including seven classified as “category A” — the most indecent — with children estimated to be between 13 and 15. One child was aged between 7 and 9.
In chats with Alex Williams, who was later convicted of distributing child sex abuse images, Edwards was asked if he wanted sexual images of a person whose “age could be discerned as being between 14 and 16,” and Edwards replied, “yes xxx,” prosecutor Ian Hope said.
“From that chat in December 2020, Alex Williams said that he had ‘a file of vids and pics for you of someone special,’” Hope said.
Edwards asked who the subject and was then sent three images that appeared to be the same person who appeared to be aged 14 to 16, Hope said.
Williams later sent Edwards a video in February 2021 that involved two children, one possibly as young as seven and the other no older than 13, involving penetration, Hope said.
Edwards did not respond, but when asked by Williams if the material was too young, he said, “don’t send underage.” He also said he didn’t want him to send anything illegal.
Defense lawyer Philip Evans said Edwards was “truly sorry” for the offenses and the damage he had done to his family.
“He apologizes sincerely and he makes it clear that he has the utmost regret and he recognizes that he has betrayed the priceless trust and faith of so many people,” Evans said.
Evans said Williams had reached out to Edwards on Instagram at a time when he was mentally vulnerable and began sending him images. He said Edwards never received gratification from the images and hadn’t saved them or sent them to anyone.
Hope said Edwards paid Williams “not insignificant sums of money,” as gifts that Williams used while studying at a university.
At one point, Williams asked for a “Christmas gift after all the hot videos” he had sent. Edwards remarked that some of the images were “amazing,” Hope said.
Williams, 25, was given a suspended 1-year sentence in March for possessing and distributing indecent images as well as possessing prohibited images of children.
Huw Edwards an ex-BBC news presenter arrives at Westminster Magistrate's Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
A small number of protesters wait for Huw Edwards an ex-BBC news presenter to arrive at Westminster Magistrate's Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
A small number of protesters wait for Huw Edwards an ex-BBC news presenter to arrive at Westminster Magistrate's Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Huw Edwards an ex-BBC news presenter arrives at Westminster Magistrate's Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Huw Edwards an ex-BBC news presenter arrives at Westminster Magistrate's Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Huw Edwards an ex-BBC news presenter arrives at Westminster Magistrate's Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Huw Edwards an ex-BBC news presenter arrives at Westminster Magistrate's Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Huw Edwards an ex-BBC news presenter arrives at Westminster Magistrate's Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
