Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Department of Health are trying to strike down an ad promoting a proposed constitutional for abortion rights, claiming it's "dangerous" because it allegedly lies about Florida's current abortion laws.
In a slew of cease-and-desist letters sent to local news stations airing the pro-Amendment 4 ad—which would also overturn Gov. DeSantis' six-week abortion ban—the Department of Health threatened "criminal proceedings" to news channels that continue to run the ad because it's "categorically false," "dangerous," and poses a "sanitary nuisance" to women statewide, they claim.
Created by the group Floridians Protecting Freedom, which helped get Amendment 4 on the November ballot, the 30-second ad features a woman named Caroline who became pregnant with her second child after a brain cancer diagnosis. Caroline says that if she did not end her pregnancy, she would have lost both her baby and her life, and her daughter would "lose her mom."
"Florida has now banned abortions, even in cases like mine," Caroline continues, before the ad asks Floridians to vote "yes" on the ballot measure, which would allow women to get abortions until "fetal viability"—around 24 weeks—and would overturn Florida's newly enacted six-week ban.
The issue, the Department of Health (DOH) argues, is that Florida allows for abortions to save the life of the mother at any stage in a pregnancy. They claim that ailing women who come to believe abortion is banned in all instances because of this ad may end up seeking "emergency medical care from unlicensed providers" to work around the law, and that could be dangerous. (Of note, that is the same argument some pro-abortion advocates have used in opposition to strict abortion bans, claiming that if the procedure is severely restricted, women will resort to back-alley abortions).
In the letter, the DOH's general counsel John Wilson argues that by this logic, the ad constitutes a "sanitary nuisance", which by law requires the agency to ask the offenders to stop—as they did with the cease-and-desist letters. If the person or group does not stop, the DOH is at liberty to institute "criminal proceedings," which in this case would be a second-degree misdemeanor.
"While your company enjoys the right to broadcast political advertisements under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, section 4 of the Florida Constitution, that right does not include free rein to disseminate false advertisements which, if believed, would likely have a detrimental effect on the lives and health of pregnant women in Florida," Wilson concludes.
This is the fourth Amendment 4-related case to be brought to Floridians' attention. The first three were court cases brought by a Lake Worth attorney, the ACLU of Florida, and the Florida Democrats, respectively, in slightly differing attempts to strike down the state Agency for Health Care Administration's new website blasting Amendment 4 as a danger to women.
Two of those three cases have been dismissed by the courts, though the Florida Democratic Party's case has yet to be ruled on.
Soon after the letters were sent, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) weighed in—blasting the DOH for allegedly "undermining" free speech.
"The right of broadcasters to speak freely is rooted in the First Amendment,” Jessica Rosenworcel, the Democratic Chair of the FCC, said in a statement. “Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech.”
The FCC, a federal agency, controls broadcast station licenses nationwide.
This also happens as Democrats target efforts to take down another ballot initiative: Amendment 3, which would legalize recreational marijuana for adults. Soon after the group behind the amendment sent 54 cease-and-desist letters to TV stations running the state-sponsored anti-weed ad, Democrat Sen. Jason Pizzo filed a court order against Florida for allegedly misusing taxpayer money for a campaign.
Amendments 3 and 4 will go to voters' ballots on Nov. 5. If 60% vote "yes", it will become enshrined in the state constitution.
