MONTGOMERY, Alabama, May 30, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — The Alabama Senate passed a resolution denouncing the state’s newest national senator for voting to allow abortions to continue past 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Last December, Doug Jones defeated former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in a special election to the Senate seat vacated when President Donald Trump chose Jeff Sessions to be his Attorney General.
Jones presented himself as moderately pro-”choice” during the campaign, saying November 2 that he supported restricting “late-term” abortions “except in the case of medical necessity.” But when the Senate voted in January on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which contained the exception he claimed to require, Jones joined his fellow Democrats in opposing it.
In response, Republican Sen. Bill Hightower introduced SR 109, which declares that “the junior senator from Alabama's vote to block protection of countless thousands of lives from a terribly painful death is unacceptable and this body strongly disapproves his departure from the values of this state and his vote on this important issue.”
The resolution quoted Jones’ previous pledge and suggested that substantial spending from out-of-state liberal groups influenced him to go back on his word and disregard “the clear wishes of the people of Alabama.”
“(A) vote to allow the brutal killing of an unborn child at this stage is unmistakably revulsive to the values of a so-called civilized and compassionate society, is obviously violent to children, many of whom can survive outside the womb, and devalues the value of every life in America,” it declared. Scientific evidence suggests that preborn babies are capable of feeling pain by week 20.
Hightower originally introduced the measure in March, and the Senate finally adopted it this month.
“Senator Jones owes the people of Alabama an explanation for turning his back on a campaign promise he made just a few short months ago,” Hightower declared. “More importantly, Senator Jones needs to explain why he would turn his back on the basic humanity of an individual’s right to life. At 20 weeks in the womb, it is not about a choice, it is about an innocent little baby’s right to live.”
“What Senator Jones voted against was the basic humanity each and every one has a right to,” he continued. “Perhaps these are the values of Senator Jones’ new liberal colleagues, but they are not the values of Alabama. We deserve better from our Senator in Washington. And innocent children deserve better from us all.”
Jones is the first Democrat to win an Alabama Senate election since 1992, and he won in large part thanks to particularly bitter divisions between Republicans.
Sessions’ departure led to a three-way primary battle between establishment favorite Luther Strange, conservative Rep. Mo Brooks, and Moore, a favorite of social conservatives for sacrificing his judgeship twice to protest judicial activism.
After Moore won the GOP nomination, allegations surfaced that he had engaged in inappropriate relationships with underage girls, as well as sexual assault. Moore strenuously denied them, with defenders raising doubts about the accusers’ stories and questioning why none of the claims had surfaced in Moore’s previous campaigns.
Nevertheless, with it being too late to replace Moore on the ballot, Republicans were divided on how to move forward. Trump endorsed him and some called for simply electing him and leaving the allegations for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate, while others proposed either delaying the special election or replacing Moore with a write-in candidate.
Some conservatives even declared that a Jones victory would be preferable, despite the narrow Senate margin between Republicans and Democrats, and celebrated Moore’s defeat after the election.
Now that Jones is in the Senate, pro-lifers are dismayed by his support for abortion-on-demand but encouraged that state lawmakers are holding him accountable.
“It was a stunning and unprecedented move,” Life Issues Institute president Brad Mattes said of the resolution. “After Jones’ betrayal of the babies, the state Senate passed a resolution condemning his hypocrisy, and I say well done!”