TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday continued to block the head of the Florida Department of Health from taking further steps to threaten television networks that air ads for an abortion rights measure on next week’s ballot.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker extended a preliminary injunction and sided with Floridians Defending Freedom, the group that created the ads for the ballot question that would add abortion rights to the state constitution when it passes Nov. 5 is adopted.
Walker issued the decision from the bench after hearing arguments from campaign lawyers and state officials. The order expands on an earlier order prohibiting State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo from taking any further action to coerce or intimidate broadcasters running the commercials.
Walker said extending the injunction will give him more time to rule on the injunction the abortion rights campaign is demanding.
The group filed the lawsuit after Ladapo and John Wilson, who was then the top lawyer at the state Department of Health before he unexpectedly resigned, sent a letter to television stations on Oct. 3 asking them to stop running an advertisement for to shut down abortion rights, claiming that doing so was wrong and unsafe. The letter also states that broadcasters could face criminal prosecution.
The controversial ad features a woman named Caroline Williams who said current Florida law – which bans most abortions after six weeks – would have denied her the procedure her doctors believed was necessary to prolong her life after She had been diagnosed with terminal brain disease. In 2022, she developed cancer. Her doctors refused to continue her cancer treatment while she was still pregnant.
The decision, which Walker issued Tuesday, extends an Oct. 18 order prohibiting state officials from trampling on the free speech rights of those with whom they disagree.
“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disapproved speech ‘false,'” the judge said in the previous order.
He added: “To keep it simple for the state of Florida: It’s the First Amendment, stupid.”
Tuesday’s hearing is the latest development in an ongoing battle between abortion rights advocates and officials in the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has waged his own state-funded campaign to block the ballot measure.
If 60% of Florida voters approve, the constitutional amendment would protect the right to abortion until the fetus is viable, which is assumed to be longer than 20 weeks. The measure would override current state law that bans most abortions after six weeks, before many women realize they are pregnant.
In the weeks leading up to the election, DeSantis held taxpayer-funded campaign rallies with doctors and religious leaders to lobby against the proposed change. Four state agencies have committed millions of dollars in public money to produce their own commercials railing against the abortion measure and another proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana exploit in the state – a move that critics say violates a state law , which bars government officials from using their public office for campaign purposes.
___ Kate Payne is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
