"Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers," according to Mark Robinson. "It's about killing the child because you weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down." Robinson was ecstatic when Donald Trump's hand-picked Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ushered in extreme abortion bans in states across the country. Now, North Carolinians are heading to the polls and once again seeing these two familiar names atop their ballots. And while Trump has sought to distance himself from Robinson in recent weeks, they are cut from the same cloth.
Both have said abhorrent things about women. Both have acted in despicable ways toward women. If elected, both would enact backward policies that will hurt women and girls.
Neither one deserves your vote.
Eight years ago this month, video leaked of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women. What happened after he was elected should have come as no surprise.
In addition to molding the Supreme Court's conservative majority, he selected and worked to confirm federal judges who are actively hostile to women's rights. And since Roe was overturned, those same judges have handed down extreme rulings limiting women's vital reproductive health care services.
If anything, Mark Robinson's views on women are even more extreme than Trump's, and he makes even less of an effort to conceal them. From minimizing domestic violence to calling female celebrities derogatory names to his disgusting comment about women who seek abortions, Robinson has never been shy about sharing his hateful opinions.
On women and the issues that matter to us, Mark Robinson's words and Donald Trump's deeds show how closely aligned the two men are. And they're both wrong for North Carolina.
If Trump wins the White House, his administration will seek to ban medication abortion, prosecute patients and doctors, and prevent hospitals from administering life-saving care to pregnant women.
To Mark Robinson, Donald Trump is the blueprint. Mark Robinson will not only be a cheerleader for all of these dangerous policies; he wants to go even further by enacting a total ban on abortion in North Carolina.
Polls show most women in America support safe, legal access to abortion and contraception. Women both here in North Carolina and across the country overwhelmingly believe personal medical decisions like when or how to start a family should be made by women and their doctors, free from the interference of politicians.
Yet despite all that unites them, with Robinson's poll numbers plummeting, Trump suddenly has cold feet, expressing ignorance about "the state of the race" when asked whether voters should cast their ballots for Robinson.
Donald Trump has spent his entire adult life objectifying, demeaning, and degrading women. The legacy of his failed presidency is a country where our daughters and granddaughters have fewer rights and less freedom than their mothers and grandmothers. Mark Robinson shares his warped worldview. They are both completely out of step with the values and aspirations of voters, especially women.
We saw what happened when voters gave Donald Trump real power. We know what will happen if we do the same for Mark Robinson in our state.
But Trump and Robinson have something else in common: On November 5, it will be strong North Carolina women—women of all races, religions, political persuasions, and walks of life—who decisively defeat them.
Deborah Ross is a United States Congresswoman representing North Carolina.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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