'What's So Crazy About That?': Republican Lawmaker Defends State's Embattled Anti-Abortion Website

HOLLYWOOD, FL—Republican state Lawmaker David Borrero scathed Democrats for "pandering" and painting Republicans as "extremists" after liberal leaders demanded an investigation into a state healthcare agency for campaigning against Amendment 4 on its taxpayer-funded anti-abortion website.

Borrero thinks it's legal.

Democrats don't.

"I think it's wholly appropriate to be able to state where we are with the law—it's our duty to convey to the residents of this state what the current standard is...that's all the state was doing that I saw, so what's so crazy about that?" Borrero told The Floridian during the Republican Party of Florida's "Victory Dinner" fundraiser at Hollywood's Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. A staunch pro-life advocate, he sponsored a bill in the 2024 session that banned all abortions from the moment of conception.

"That's more pandering from the Democratic Party where they're trying to convey this message that Republicans are extremists, and they're trying to say that we're attacking women which is completely the opposite of what we've done in the state of Florida," he added.

The drama erupted late last week after DeSantis appointee Jason Weida unveiled the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA)'s new website floridahealthfinder.com. The site begs Floridians not to "let the fearmongers lie to you" and has language like: "Current Florida law protects women, Amendment 4 threatens women's safety." The website has seven sections juxtaposing "facts" versus "myths" on the amendment, questions undefined terms in the initiative's language, and insists that "We must keep Florida from becoming an abortion tourism destination state,"—a popular phrase used by the DeSantis administration.

Democrats, in turn, have claimed that this violates a Florida statute prohibiting state employees from participating in political campaigns "for an elective office" while on duty, and bans them from using their "official authority" to influence "another person's vote or affecting the result" of an election.

Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried called the website "bullshit" and said they would seek "all recourse" to take the page down. The ACLU of Florida agreed, calling it "misinformation" designed to "sabotage the vote."

"We are looking into appropriate legal action," Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book wrote on social media. "The voters of Florida deserve law-abiding leadership and to have their voices heard in November — free from government interference and propaganda."

Republican Sens. Jay Collins and Blaise Ingoglia said they had not been "fully briefed" on the website, and while they declined to comment on the AHCA legal debate, they seized the opportunity to trash the amendment, which will be on the November ballot.

"It is very clear that it allows late-term abortions, and I'm unabashedly pro-life," Ingoglia told The Floridian. 

"I am pro-God, pro-gun, pro-life," said Collins. "I think if you read what is on those pages it is unfettered and unregulated abortions from anyone; it doesn't have to be a doctor...This is from the first day of viability all the way to partial-birth abortions, and it's frightening."

Amendment 4 rose from the ashes of a six-week abortion ban passed in 2023. Outraged group Floridians Protecting Freedom collected nearly one million signatures statewide to get the amendment—which would enshrine abortion access until "fetal viability" in the state constitution—on the November ballot. It needs 60% of voter approval to amend the constitution.

On this, Republican Rep. Chip LaMarca claimed that the six-week ban happened because Democrats "wouldn't accept" the 15-week ban passed in 2022.

"None of the Democrats were happy when we passed [15 weeks], and they said I was a terrible human being—anyone who voted for it was against choice and rational thought," he told The Floridian. "Nobody wants anyone to take a life at any point, but especially an infant...Let's go back ten, 15, 20 years: everybody wanted safe and legal but rare."