As Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies continue to attack a ballot proposal aimed at enshrining abortion rights in the state Constitution, his administration pushed back in a legal battle about the state’s efforts to block a television ad supporting the measure.
Attorneys for the administration on Tuesday filed a document accusing the Floridians Protecting Freedom political committee, which is sponsoring what appears as Amendment 4 on the November ballot, of “intentionally spreading false factual information” about a state law restricting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Floridians Protecting Freedom filed the federal lawsuit after the state Department of Health sent threatening letters to television stations running the commercial, which the department said posed a public “health nuisance.”
The lawsuit alleged the letters, signed by former Department of Health General Counsel John Wilson, violated the First Amendment, and Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker last week granted the committee’s request for a temporary restraining order blocking state officials from taking any action against broadcasters airing the ad. Walker will hold a hearing Tuesday in the case.
In a document filed Tuesday opposing the committee’s request for a preliminary injunction, lawyers for Department of Health Secretary Joseph Ladapo, who is the state surgeon general, argued that the ad contains “objectively false factual information” because the six-week law includes exceptions when the life of a pregnant woman is at risk. [Ladapo was himself harshly criticized for disseminating misinformation about the dangers of covid vaccines.]
“The Constitution does not grant individuals a right to spread false information about the availability of lifesaving medical services (abortion). There is no right, for instance, to air commercials falsely claiming that all of a city’s hospitals are closed, or that 911 services are down. Yet Floridians Protecting Freedom, Inc. claims that it has just such a right because the false information that it is spreading pertains to abortion, and an abortion referendum is taking place in Florida this November. Not so,” wrote attorneys with the Washington, D.C.-based Cooper & Kirk firm, which is representing the administration.
The controversial ad, dubbed “Caroline,” tells the story of a woman who was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 18 weeks pregnant. Doctors told the woman they could not treat her with chemotherapy or radiation while pregnant, so she had an abortion.
The woman in the ad says that “doctors knew if I did not end my pregnancy . . . I would lose my life” and that “Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine.”
But the administration’s lawyers wrote that the “statute is crystal clear. If an abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life, she may obtain the procedure.”
The Department of Health last week signed a $200,000 contract with Cooper & Kirk — a firm frequently enlisted by DeSantis’ administration to defend the state in federal litigation — for representation in the abortion lawsuit, according to information posted on a state website.
Amid the lawsuit, Wilson resigned as general counsel of the department, according to an affidavit filed Monday. Wilson’s affidavit said he did not author the Oct. 3 letters to television stations bearing his signature and that he was “directed” to send the letters by DeSantis’ general counsel, Ryan Newman, and a deputy general counsel, Jed Doty.
Wilson resigned on Oct. 10 “in lieu of complying with directives from Newman and Doty to send out further correspondence to the media outlets,” the affidavit said.
In addition to the letters, DeSantis and his administration have taken unprecedented steps to oppose the abortion proposal and a ballot measure, known as Amendment 3, which would allow recreational use of marijuana.
The state is paying for public-service announcements urging a “no” vote on the abortion measure and launched a webpage warning against it. DeSantis, in his official capacity as governor, this week made appearances to campaign against the proposal with anti-abortion doctors and other opponents.
Also, the Florida Department of State’s Office of Election Crimes and Security released a 388-page report last week making fraud accusations against some workers who collected petition signatures for the abortion initiative. The report also accused Floridians Protecting Freedom of illegally paying workers based on the number of signatures they collected.
Opponents of the abortion measure filed lawsuits last week seeking to invalidate the proposed amendment, relying heavily on the state’s report.
The DeSantis administration document filed Tuesday in the federal lawsuit also argued that Floridians Protecting Freedom lacks “standing” to pursue the case because it won’t suffer any “actual or imminent” harm. The document also disputed whether any TV station had pulled the ad, although the lawsuit alleged that one station had stopped airing it.
The state also attacked Florida Protecting Freedom’s assertion that the threats “chilled” the committee’s speech, saying that “chilled speech” amounts to self-censorship.
The committee “cannot show a self-censorship injury here, however, because it is not choosing to self-censor,” the state’s filing said.
Supporters of the proposal on Tuesday held a news conference with doctors who said that the six-week abortion restriction is creating havoc for obstetricians and gynecologists, who are having to consult with lawyers and ethics panels before providing emergency care to pregnant women. Physicians face heavy fines or jail if they violate the law, which requires two physicians to “certify in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment,” an abortion after six weeks is necessary. The law also allows an abortion if a physician “certifies in writing” the medical necessity for an emergency abortion to save the pregnant woman’s life and another doctor is unavailable.
“Patients are not being provided care until they are on the brink of death, even if we put them at risk of life-threatening infection … even if their ability to have children in the future is in jeopardy,” Tampa obstetrician and gynecologist Samantha Baer told reporters Tuesday.
–Dara Kam, News Service of Florida
Marek says
Mr. Ladapo is nothing but a doormat for DeSantis. He should be ashamed for forgetting the oath
he took. As a doctor. But he rather serve the politicians than the humans in need.
Laurel says
What DeSantis excells at is wasteing taxpayer’s money on his Project 2025 b.s..
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
“The state is paying for public-service announcements urging a “no” vote on the abortion measure….”
Hard earned taxpayer money being wasted by RonDUH and his puppet of a “surgeon general”.
Martha says
Tell DeathSantis and his quack Dr. according to the WESH news the majority people so far are voting YES on 4. DeathSantis is losing again even though he tried to sabotage the amendment.
Skibum says
Florida continues to bear an almost daily slew of jokes from the late night shows precisely because of the ineptness, horrible behavior, and corruption of DeSantis and the idiots that he installed in important positions of state government. Ladapo is one of the worst such people, who as the state’s top appointed doctor, should be striving to protect Floridians but instead has such a bad reputation with even other medical professionals who view him as a quack. The people of this state deserve so much better, but I doubt that will ever happen if the majority of voters continue to elect horrible Republi-cons the like of DeSantis and others like him who never seem to have the people’s best interests in the decisions they make. It is just one of the many reasons why there are so many people who refer to this state as Flori-Duh.
Another Concerned Taxpayer !!! says
Find it interesting that DeSantis’ Chief Mis-information Czar Ladapo has the gall to accuse anyone else of mis-information.
Deborah Coffey says
OMG. Ladapo has done nothing BUT lie on numerous issues. He has the right to lie because he’s above the law? He’s killed thousands of Floridians during the pandemic and now he’s out and about killing women. HOW MANY PREGNANT WOMEN ARE DEAD IN FLORIDA since the 6-week abortion ban? How many? We have got to defeat these lying Fascists.
Jim says
Laparoscopic has no credit outside the MAGA cult. Let him spout more lies. I think most Floridians know he’s a charlatan and his input will be treated accordingly.
I want to see what percentage of Floridians vote to enshrine abortion rights.
Wallingford says
The Governor’s allies know that Amendment 4 will pass so they are trying all they can to make it more difficult. Why not let the Citizens of Florida decide their own fate? FYI…the Infant mortality rate has increased since the Rowe decision
Paula says
DeSantis is a laughing stock of the nation.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
The entire world would be a better place if this clown would just shut the fuck up and go hide under his desk at the fake position that UF created for him.
Laurel says
Got our flu shots and COVID boosters, you know, the nanobots? Remember that? Those nanobots are tracking me now for nearly four years, so nanos, I’m on my way to get another cup of coffee. Got that? Those wiley liberals!