"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 "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 approve 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. "It was like this 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," he 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." They have 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.