A Democratic group has released a new voice from North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running for governor, saying he wants to get abortion restrictions to “zero” week.

In the audio, which the group said was recorded Sept. 3 at a Robinson campaign event in Troy, NC, the woman asked Robinson about his stance on abortion and why he supported North Carolina’s current 12-week ban on the procedure.

Robinson responded by saying, “That 12 weeks, the exceptions for rape and incest… I’m not going to say it’s reasonable. But my faith allows me to live with it because there’s a consensus. Do I want to keep lowering it? You better know that. I’d like to get to six weeks. And I’d like to get down to zero. I’d like to push it back as far as we can and eliminate as many abortions as possible.”

“We can’t do everything at once,” he added. “Democrats started the game with Roe v. Wade and then moved to ‘safe, legal and rare.’ So where did they end up? Nine months in the womb. They did it for over 50 years. … And we can do it.”

The recording, shared with NBC News, was released by the Mark Robinson War Room, a project of the North Carolina Democratic Leadership Committee, which is supported by the Democratic Governors Association. The group said it was formed “for the sole purpose of holding Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson accountable for his toxicity and dangerous plan in North Carolina.” Robinson is running against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.

Publicly, Robinson has supported North Carolina’s current restrictions. The lieutenant governor acknowledged in a television ad earlier this year that his wife had an abortion 30 years ago and offered support for North Carolina’s current abortion restrictions, which limit the procedure after 12 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother.

But Robinson advocates measures that go further. She made similar comments at a campaign event in February, saying: “We’ve got it to 12 weeks, the next goal is to get it to six and then just keep going,” referring to abortion, the local said. This was reported by a Fox News affiliate.

In the audio shared with NBC News, Robinson also told the woman that he has not changed his position on abortion “at all” and that “there is no reason why an abortion should ever happen.”

“I’m 100% pro-life, and that’s how I think it should be. If I’m a pastor in the pulpit, that’s what I’m preaching. If I’m counseling someone, a young woman, a couple, that’s what I tell them. I tell them, ‘Choose life for your child,'” he added.

Robinson then explained that he was not a pastor and that as an elected official he had to work with consensus.

“Now a lot of people say, ‘Well, that changes your position.’ It is giving up your convictions. It’s not,” Robinson said. “You have to be an elected official. You have to be mature enough in your faith to see people do things you disagree with and allow them to do it because we don’t live in a theocracy. If we have politicians who start running the country like they run their church, then we will end up like Iran. This country was not formed this way.”

Stein has been an outspoken supporter of abortion rights and has vowed to defend access to the procedure.

When asked about comments Robinson made about reducing abortions to “zero,” Mike Lonergan, Robinson’s campaign communications director, sent a written statement.

“Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is pro-life because of his and his wife’s painful and difficult experience and faith,” Lonergan said in a statement. “Kamala Harris and Josh Stein are extreme and out of step with North Carolina voters by supporting taxpayer-funded late-term abortion. They are using the same playbook that failed here in 2022 and will fail again in 2024.

“The Legislature has already spoken on this issue,” Lonergan added. “As Governor, Mark Robinson will work to make North Carolina a destination for life by building a culture that is more supportive of women and families, including supporting adoption and foster and child care.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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