Florida’s government is criticizing an abortion rights ballot measure that Gov. Ron DeSantis is rejecting on several fronts.
This month, the state health department told television stations that they would face criminal charges if they continued to air a “Floridians Protecting Freedom” commercial that the government said was untrue and constituted a “health nuisance.” The ad still continues.
Separately, the Bureau of Election Crime and Security released a report Friday claiming that “a large number of forged signatures or fraudulent petitions” had been submitted to get the question on the ballot. The state also announced a $328,000 fine against the campaign group.
The group’s campaign manager says the campaign has gone “overboard” and that the state government is taking inappropriate action to try to thwart the change.
“What we are seeing now are nothing more than dishonest distractions and desperate attempts to silence voters,” Lauren Brenzel said in a statement.
There’s a lot at stake in the push for abortion rights in Florida
Florida is one of nine states to introduce a measure protecting abortion access on the Nov. 5 ballot. According to media tracking firm AdImpact, it’s the most costly – with around $150 million in ads so far – and perhaps the most consequential.
That spending total includes millions the state Republican Party spent at DeSantis’ behest to urge voters to reject the question. That doesn’t include spending by the state Department of Health, including on a website that says “Amendment 4 endangers women’s safety.” Abortion rights advocates filed a lawsuit to stop the taxpayer-funded message, but a Judge ruled last month that it could proceed. There was also litigation seeking comment on the financial impact of the ballot measure.
The measure would mean amending the state constitution to protect the right to abortion until the fetus is viable, which is considered more than 20 weeks after pregnancy. And it could be later to protect the woman’s life or health. The change would reverse a law enacted this year that bans abortions in most cases after the first six weeks of pregnancy – before many women realize they are pregnant.
The law signed by DeSantis changed the national abortion landscape. As a result, many Florida women leave the state for abortions. And those from other locations in the South that have bans in place are also traveling further rather than seeking services in Florida.
In order for the ballot measure to pass, it needs the support of 60% of those voting for it. In 2022 and 2023, abortion rights advocates prevailed on all seven U.S. statewide ballot measures—but only in generally liberal California and Vermont did they receive three-fifths of support.
The state orders television stations to stop broadcasting an advertisement
In an ad from Floridians Protecting Freedom, a Florida mother describes how she was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 20 weeks pregnant, before a series of state restrictions went into effect.
“The doctors knew that if I didn’t terminate my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, my life, and my daughter would lose her mother,” she says, adding that current state law would not have allowed her to have an abortion before she received it could begin cancer treatment.
On Oct. 4, the Florida Department of Health wrote a letter to WCJB-TV in Gainesville claiming the ad was “categorically false” because abortion is available after six weeks of pregnancy if it is necessary to save a woman’s life to save or “avert a serious illness”. Risk of significant and irreversible physical impairment of an critical bodily function.”
The state said it could invoke a “health nuisance law” and bring criminal proceedings against the station.
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission criticized the threats. “Broadcasters’ right to speak freely is enshrined in the First Amendment,” Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement last week. “Threats against broadcasters for broadcasting content that contradicts the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of freedom of expression.”
In a letter to television stations, the Abortion Rights Campaign said the ad was true because the woman in the ad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. An abortion would not save her life but rather prolong it, the group says.
Floridians Protecting Freedom says about 50 stations aired the ad and that all or almost all of them received the warning – and that they continued to air it anyway.
Scripps, which owns four stations in Florida, said all received the letter and kept the ad on the air. “The ads are protected by the First Amendment,” David M. Giles, the company’s chief legal officer, said in a statement Monday.
Florida Health did not respond to messages seeking comment. Neither WCJB-TV nor its owner Gray Television nor the Florida Association of Broadcasters.
According to a state office, the petitions contained forged signatures
Florida’s Office of Election Crimes and Security sent a report to DeSantis and legislative leaders Friday alleging fraud in the petition drive that put Amendment 4 on the ballot.
The office, created under a 2022 law, calls on leaders to discuss “the adequacy of current law in combating initiative petition fraud.”
The report alleges that people paid to collect signatures, forged signatures, and some signed petitions on behalf of the deceased, and that some were illegally paid for each signature collected.
The agency fined Floridians Protecting Freedom $328,000 and accused it of violating election law. The company announces that it will appeal the fine.
And Brenzel questioned why the state released the report now that early voting had begun — and months after the signatures had been certified.
The report released Friday appears to explain what state police were working on when some showed up at voters’ homes last month asking if they could sign petitions to put the abortion rights amendment on the ballot.
At the time, DeSantis defended the investigation. “Anyone who has submitted a petition and is a valid voter has the full right to do so,” DeSantis said. “We’re not investigating that. What they are investigating are fraudulent petitions.
