When Alabama Republicans chose Roy Moore to run for the unexpired term of Jeff Sessions’ Senate seat, democrats rubbed their hands together in glee. Moore has made numerous off-putting statements, such as the wish to outlaw homosexuality. He had been removed twice from the Alabama state Supreme Court for defying federal judicial orders. Surely there is an outside chance that Moore will be too much even for deep red state Alabama.

It turns out that Democrats can set thoughts of picking up a red state Senate seat aside. Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate, has his own problems where it comes to extremism on social issues.

This new fact complicates Democratic chances in the December 10 special election.

Doug Jones is a pro-abortion absolutist

As Hot Air points out, Jones favors late-term abortion. He opposes a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks on the federal level. He even opposes the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits public funding of abortions. Jones, therefore, might be forgiven for believing that he favors the right to have an abortion up to the moment of birth and is cool with the idea of taxpayer money being used to pay for it. Jones will certainly be called upon to clarify his views and reveal if he does favor any restrictions on abortion at all. Most abortions are banned in Alabama after 22 weeks, though the matter is still pending in the courts, according to the New York Times, The only states where there are no restrictions of when an abortion can take place are Alaska, Colorado, Washington D.C, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Late term abortions tend to be rare even in states where they are allowed. There is little information available on why such procedures are done, though abortion supporters claim they are used primarily for medical reasons,

Where the public stands on abortion

The abortion debate is often depicted in the media by extreme views.

In one corner, the pro-life movement would prohibit the practice from the moment of conception. In the other corner, the pro-choice movement wants to preserve a woman’s right to “control her own body” at all stages of pregnancy.

However, polling data suggests that most people are in the middle. Americans favor a right to an abortion in the first trimester by overwhelming numbers.

However, that support reverses itself the opposition for the second and third trimesters. The more the fetus looks like a baby and the more likely it can survive outside the womb, the fewer Americans favor doing away with it.

What does the issue mean for the Alabama special election?

Pro-life voters tend to be absolute in who they will vote for and who they won’t. Trump won the presidential election because he shrewdly took a pro-life position, whereas Hillary Clinton held the opposite view. Alabama has more pro-life voters than most states. They would not vote for a candidate who favored even a little bit of abortion. Someone like Doug Jones, who supports late-term abortions, will be anathema.

Pro-life voters believe that the practice is the taking of an innocent human life. Whatever other facts exist about the two candidates, this is the decisive one.

It looks like, therefore, that Doug Jones is shaping up to be Alabama’s version of Wendy Davis, who was hoped to turn Texas blue by winning the governor’s race, but instead was trounced soundly 59 percent to 39 percent. Davis famously filibustered an abortion restriction bill in the Texas State Senate. Though the bill eventually passed, she briefly became a national figure. In any case, Democrats are about to find out that extremism on social issues goes both ways.
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