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An abortion rights campaign in Florida is suing Ron DeSantis’s administration for his “months-long crusade” to derail an upcoming ballot measure that would sink his anti-abortion agenda.
A federal lawsuit filed in Florida on Wednesday accuses state health officials of violating Floridians Protecting Freedom’s First Amendment rights with “coercive” threats to prosecute TV stations that aired its campaign ads — an “escalation” of DeSantis’s broader campaign against Amendment 4.
The administration has also deployed “election police” to question people who signed a petition in support of the amendment, accused petitioners of “fraud,” and launched taxpayer-funded ads and a website accusing the campaign of spreading “lies” about abortion care.
“Now, the State has gone one step further — attempting to silence [the campaign] by threatening to criminally prosecute” broadcasters that air ads that support it, the lawsuit alleges.
A letter from the state’s Florida Department of Health to WFLA TV called a campaign ad “false” and “dangerous” and threatened legal action if the network did not remove the ad within 24 hours.
The state accused the woman who is featured in the ad — Caroline, a cancer survivor who needed abortion care in a state where abortion is now outlawed at six weeks of pregnancy — of being a “sanitary nuisance.”
“The State’s threat, while unconstitutional, was effective,” according to the lawsuit. “At least one station pulled the advertisement from the air.”
With Election Day now less than a month away and early voting in the state set to begin next week, the campaign “is running and intends to continue running television advertisements and to engage in other political speech advocating for the passage of Amendment 4 and calling attention to the dangerous consequences of current Florida law on women’s rights and health,” the lawsuit states.
“It is intolerable that [the campaign] do so with the State dangling a sword of Damocles over anyone who would facilitate that core political expression — threatening broadcasters with criminal prosecution if they air viewpoints the State disagrees with, and silencing [the campaign’s] speech in the process,” plaintiffs add.
Caroline, the woman featured in the ad, said in a statement that the state’s attempts to “silence” her “are not only disheartening, they sting and are an abuse of power.”
“The choice and ability to have an abortion when I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, extended my life so I could spend more time with my young daughter and husband,” she said in a statement shared with The Independent.
“Now, because of Florida’s abortion ban, women like me are unable to make medical decisions with their families and doctors — that’s cruel and unacceptable,” she said.
Floridians Protecting Freedom collected roughly 1 million signatures in January, ensuring a slot for the Amendment 4 proposal on November ballots.
Voters will be asked whether the Florida’s constitution should be amended to state that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
If voters approve the measure, the state’s anti-abortion law will effectively be overturned.
A group of anti-abortion activists have also sued to block the amendment from appearing on ballots this fall, arguing that there was widespread fraud in the signature-collection campaign.
A federal judge overseeing the lawsuit from abortion rights supporters will hold an emergency hearing on October 17.
Abortion rights advocates and opponents of DeSantis’s efforts fear that the governor may be paving the way to challenge the outcome of the election, and then subvert the results by asking the courts to throw them out.
Yes On 4 campaign director Lauren Brenzel slammed the DeSantis administration’s efforts as “unconstitutional government interference — full stop.”
“The State cannot coerce television stations into removing political speech from the airwaves in an attempt to keep their abortion ban in place,” she said in a statement shared with The Independent.
The Independent has requested comment from Florida health officials.
