The Federalist, a conservative news and opinion site, earned scorching pushback on social media Thursday after it published an opinion piece defending Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore dating teenagers while in his 30s on the grounds that it's "not without some merit if one wants to raise a large family."

The commentary comes with less than two weeks before a special election between Democrat Doug Jones and Moore, who is accused of sexual misconduct and assault by several women who said he made advances toward them when they were teenagers as young as 14.

"Here is one thing we know and should admit from the start: in his early thirties, Moore had a penchant for dating teenagers. Apparently, this was not an uncommon occurrence during this time," Tully Borland, an associate professor of philosophy at Ouachita Baptist University, wrote for the site.

"Apparently, this was not an uncommon occurrence during this time. In fact, this practice has a long history and is not without some merit if one wants to raise a large family," Borland adds.

The story quickly went viral, climbing to one of the top trending topics on Twitter with the negative responses from both the left and right.

This is a terrible article and I'm sorry the @FDRLST ran it. https://t.co/wRMMC94kGi — Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) November 30, 2017

The Federalist says it's OK to vote for a pervert if you're a conservative.#ThrowbackThursday Trump's closing argument in 2016 was you shouldn't vote for Hillary because Anthony Weiner was a pervert https://t.co/7kK8QOzp5S — The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 30, 2017

Honestly I’m not looking forward to Roman Polanski’s guest post at the Federalist. — Sign Popehat's Yearbook (@Popehat) November 30, 2017

This piece makes the argument that it is justifiable to proposition 8th graders because of their fertility. It’s so much worse than just tribalism. https://t.co/DUXiYe3K5X — Kristen Soltis Anderson (@KSoltisAnderson) November 30, 2017

Oh good The Federalist has now published an article saying it was fine for Moore to prey on teens - he wanted a big family! Needed a young lady for long term birthing! What other choice did he have! pic.twitter.com/kzXfYRg1Os — Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) November 30, 2017

The Federalist: "Look, we're not literally electing Moore to molest my own daughter, so I'm cool with this." pic.twitter.com/HkqkZPbAEs — Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) November 30, 2017

"I have a 14-year old daughter. If I caught Roy Moore doing what was alleged, I would kick him where it counts. But if he did it to 9 girls who aren't MY daughter, I'm ok with putting him in the US Senate." - The Federalist, redux — John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 30, 2017