Amendment 4 leader fears Ron DeSantis' threats in abortion rights fight

The political committee supporting Amendment 4 is concerned about the political pressure coming from the governor. Ron DeSantis after the state threatened television stations with criminal prosecution for running abortion rights commercials.

The Ministry of Health has hired two law firms to investigate the state's threats, it said Sarah Latshawthe chairman of Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF), in one The affidavit was filed on Friday in FPFs First Amendment lawsuit in federal court.

“FPF now reviews external communications with an eye toward the risk of criminal prosecution and attempts to consider what statement the state might consider 'false,' regardless of whether FPF believes a particular statement is accurate,” Latshaw wrote. “While FPF will continue to educate voters about Amendment 4 and Florida’s current law, FPF does not take the threat of criminal prosecution lightly.”

FPF is suing the Surgeon General Joseph Ladapothe head of the DOH after the health department sent cease-and-desist letters to the media written by DeSantis lawyers. A federal judge issue an interim injunction to prevent the state from making further threats until both sides appear in court on Tuesday.

The court files also provide new information WINK TVs Decision to withdraw the advertisements and then reinstate them. The CBS affiliate in Fort Myers was the only known station to comply with the state's demands – at least temporarily.

The ad in the middle of the litigation shows a woman identified only as Caroline who lives in Tampa. As a mother and wife, she learned she had fatal brain cancer while pregnant with her second child. She had an abortion in the second trimesterr to receive life-prolonging chemotherapy.

“Florida has now banned abortions even in cases like mine,” Caroline said in the commercial.

DeSantis and the state argue that's not true and say women in Caroline's situation should be allowed to have an abortion.

“Don’t fall for scaremongering. Our current abortion law protects the lives of women at risk,” said Dr. Ana Verdeja Perez the Florida Physicians Against Amendment 4, which has joined DeSantis at a rally this week.

FPF stands by the ad and says this is a reality because of Florida's abortion ban.

Florida currently has a six-week abortion ban for most pregnancies, which abortion rights advocates say is one of the most extreme measures in the country. There are exceptions – if incest, sex trafficking and rape survivors can obtain documents to prove their crimes, they can have abortions up to 15 weeks – or to save the mother's life. But Doctors support Amendment 4 say Florida's new ban, which went into effect in May, creates uncertainty and pressure on the medical community not to help women.

Claiming that the Caroline ad was false and harmful to the public, the state sent cease-and-desist letters to television stations. After the Oct. 3 cease-and-desist letter was sent, WINK-TV continued to play the commercials – including four times on Oct. 4, three times on Oct. 8, and then seven times on Oct. 14 and four times on Oct. 14. 16, according to a court affidavitt of Jae WilliamsDOH Communications Director.

FPF filed the lawsuit on October 16.

Latshaw said she didn't initially know that WINK-TV was running the commercial again in mid-October.

“It is my understanding that WINK-TV pulled 'Caroline' because of the department's letter. The advertising reservation was booked and paid in full when WINK-TV canceled it; WINK-TV has not indicated it would be willing to run the advertising again until a 'legal review' was conducted and consultation with FPF's attorney,” said Latshaw, ACLU of Florida Deputy Political Director, in the court's affidavit. “The ad was unavailable for five days when it should otherwise have aired when Florida voters cast their ballots.”

Attorney General Ashley Moody defended the state's cease and desist declarations and said that it was appropriate to send it given the situation. She also downplayed the impact of the government's letters.

“Based on these letters, it appears that only one television station – WINK-TV in Fort Myers – has stopped broadcasting FPF’s false claim about the availability of life-saving medical services. It is not clear from the evidence on file why this occurred,” Moody wrote in a court filing.

Meanwhile, the FPF accused the state of violating its right to freedom of expression, arguing: “While the ministry openly speculates that there could be other reasons why WINK-TV stopped broadcasting 'Caroline', there are There is no other plausible explanation for WINK-TV's behavior other than this “a response to the Department's threat.”

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