Alabama is what happens when Republicans run riot. And I'm not just talking about the abortion ban
This might be a good place to mention that the Republican Senate candidate from the state had some issues with 'dating' underaged girls, assault, and eventually was banned from a mall. Speaking of which, Roy Moore has a big announcement to make today
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Last month Alabama passed the most restrictive abortion law in recent memory, banning all abortions even in the case of rape or incest. In fact, in Alabama you can now go to jail longer for performing an abortion than you would for committing a rape. Speaking of rape, Alabama is one of only two states where rapists can sue for parental rights. But this is just one of the many Handmaid’s Tale-esque policies that Alabama has embraced. One has to wonder just why the sleepy state which ranks 50th out of 50 states in education is such a hotbed of regressive policies. How did this Republican stronghold end up turning into Dr Frankenstein’s terrifying lab where an ultra-conservative fever dream is cooked up on the daily?
Well, Alabama’s love of regressive laws started before abortion with one of the most restrictive immigration bills, a bill so restrictive it actually failed. Which takes some doing. And of course, the whole thing is somewhat ironic because Alabama is not a border state and its population grew by a meager quarter of a per cent last year.
The abortion ban got a lot of national press, but it’s just one of the many regressive laws that Alabama’s super-red government is hellbent on passing (not all of these laws passed). There’s permitless carry, chemical castration, same sex adoption, protecting Confederate monuments, a bill to speed up death penalty appeals — and all that’s before you get to Alabama’s confusing moral turpitude act, which prevents certain types of felons from having their voting rights restored because morality.
This might be a good place to mention that the Republican Senate candidate from the state had some issues with “dating” underaged girls, alleged assault, and eventually was banned from a mall. Speaking of which, Roy Moore has a big announcement to make today.
Moore is reportedly going to announce — in Montgomery, at 3pm — whether or not he’ll run again for Senate. Moore lost to a Democrat by just two points last time, and he’s had an interesting run in the state: when he was twice elected Alabama chief governor (and twice removed) he did some totally normal things like installing a gigantic statue of the Ten Commandments in the judicial house. Even Trump isn’t supporting him any more (not because of his views, but because he thinks he doesn’t stand a realistic chance of winning.)
Whether or not Moore runs, or wins, this state has a big problem — Republicans have been allowed to run free there, and we’re seeing the consequences. Per Steve Flowers at the Alabama Political Reporter, the “Alabamians have elected all Republicans to every secondary, statewide office. There are six secondary constitutional offices. All six are held by Republicans. There are nine justices on the State Supreme Court. There are also 10 judges on the Civil and Criminal Courts of Appeals. These 19 judges are all Republicans. If you add the three seats on the PSC to this list and include the Governor, that is 29 state offices. All 29 are held by Republicans. In addition, we have seven seats in Congress. Six out of seven of our Congressional members are Republicans.” Maybe Republicans are taking advantage of a state where they have a super-majority in both the state Senate and the state House. In fact, there are only two Democrats who hold national-level positions from the state: Senator Doug Jones and Congresswoman Terri Sewell.
Alabama might be taking a page from the Kansas playbook. How well did one-party Republican leadership work for the state of Kansas? Just ask their Democratic Governor Laura Kelly.
We probably haven’t seen the last of Alabama’s backwards legislation, though it’s hard for me to think of anything worse than what they’ve already cooked up. But make no mistake: Alabama is what happens when Republicans are allowed to run roughshod, to create laws they themselves would never follow (case in point: Roy Moore). I'm reminded of the Roy Moores’ spokeswoman Janet Porter in particular, who publicly defended a pedophile while pushing an abortion ban. Hardline Republicans would like you to believe they are well-qualified to be the arbiters of morality. Unfortunately, that’s often extremely far from the truth.
What will happen in Alabama is anyone’s guess. But for now, it stands an incredible monument to hypocrisy, to faux-morality, to the Republican Party’s inability to modernize, and to the bigotry which the GOP has fully embraced under Trumpism. Perhaps Roy Moore perfectly represents the state from which he hails.
Molly Jong-Fast is a freelance journalist who is also occasionally involved in Democratic fundraising including for the Alabama Democratic Victory Fund
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