WASHINGTON North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson baselessly claimed at a recent event that birth control is being forced on very young ladies and suggested it will make them want to have lots of sex.

An undercover operative from American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic research group, asked Robinson about birth control at an Aug. 26 Rockingham County meet-and-greet and secretly recorded the conversation. North Carolina is a one-party consent state , meaning it is legal to record someone as long as one person involved in the communication knows they are being recorded. HuffPost obtained a copy of the recording.

The Democratic operative told Robinson, who is currently the states lieutenant governor, that she was worried about young women being pressured into taking birth control and asked if there was anything he could do about it.

The only thing I dont like about birth control is when its being forced on very young ladies, Robinson replied.

Its not clear who he thinks is forcing birth control on young women. In fact, conservatives have been making it increasingly difficult for women to get birth control, in part by sowing misinformation about how it works. Since 2022, Republicans in at least 17 states have blocked Democrat-led efforts to pass laws aimed at ensuring women have access to birth control, per a Washington Post review of states legislation in June.

Robinsons reference to very young ladies also implies hes talking about children or teenagers using birth control, which echoes conservative rhetoric in the decades-old GOP war against sex education that children are being sexualized by liberal policies.

During their exchange, the Democratic operative also suggested to Robinson that young women may also be a little bit more inclined to be promiscuous if they use birth control. He agreed.

I think so, said the North Carolina Republican. You know, those are personal opinions. But you know, working those into legislation is tricky.

Birth control does not make young women more likely to have lots of sex. If anything, research has found that the combined hormonal birth control pill (i.e. a pill containing both estrogen and progestin) is linked to a decreased sex drive .

But that is beside the point. Women of all ages use birth control for a variety of reasons not even related to sex or preventing pregnancies , including for reducing menstrual cramps, treating heavy periods and addressing health conditions like acne, bone thinning, cysts in their ovaries or breasts, ovarian cancer and iron deficiencies.