Florida judge orders DeSantis administration to stop threats over abortion reform ads – Washington Examiner

The judge ruled that the administration, which justified its actions to prevent medical misinformation, was restricting freedom of speech.

DeSantis has been a vocal opponent of the 4th Amendment, which would have enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution, and has been accused of using federal power to challenge the ballot initiative.

Judge Mark Walker, appointed to the Federal District Court in Tallahassee by former President Barack Obama in 2012, issued a temporary restraining order against the DeSantis administration, citing threats against TV stations from the Florida Department of Health. It amounts to “discrimination” and “unconstitutional oppression.”

Walker’s order was issued after an emergency hearing Thursday after the pro-Amendment 4 abortion rights group, Floridians Protecting Freedom, filed a lawsuit against the DeSantis administration on Wednesday.

“The government cannot justify its indirect ban on political speech simply by declaring that speech that is objectionable is ‘false,'” Walker wrote in his 17-page opinion. keep it simple for the state of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

The 30-second TV ad in question features Caroline Williams, who was 20 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed with brain cancer. Williams said in the video that Florida’s abortion ban would have prevented her from terminating her pregnancy to receive cancer treatment, which would have meant her first child would have lost its mother.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld the state’s six-week abortion ban, signed by DeSantis in April 2023. There are exceptions to the ban on rape, sexual intercourse and the woman and a close relative, and the fatal abortion of the fetus, as well as saving the woman’s life or preventing serious bodily harm. danger.

Since the law went into effect in May of this year, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration has been vocal in explaining to health care providers that they must use “medically appropriate” judgment when pregnancy threatens the mother’s life.

A spokesman for the DeSantis Administration said Washington Examiner that Williams would have been able to terminate her pregnancy to save her life under the six-week abortion ban.

“Yes On 4 supporters are also playing politics with women’s lives,” said the spokesperson. “Unreliable advertising conditions—that pregnant women are not allowed to go to the doctor if their pregnancy causes life-threatening problems—can prevent a pregnant woman facing health problems from going to the doctor for the medical assistance she needs what he needs to live.”

Anti-abortion advocates who support gestational age limits for the procedure have said that medical emergency exceptions are sufficient, arguing that medical misinformation and confusion among health care providers have put the patient’s safety at risk.

It was reported in September that Candi Miller, a Georgia mother, died of complications from abortion pills in 2022 following the implementation of the state’s six-week abortion ban. Miller’s family told the doctor that she had obtained abortion pills online because her pregnancy was life-threatening due to her chronic conditions, but she did not seek medical help for fear of charged, which legal experts say should not have happened.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health said Washington Examiner that the Yes On 4 ad is “wrong and harmful to public health in Florida.”

“The media continues to ignore the fact that Florida’s protected heartbeat law always protects the life of the mother and includes exceptions for victims of rape, sexual intercourse and other by a person close to human trafficking,” said a Florida DOH spokesperson.

“The court confirmed what we’ve known all along: The state will not silence the truth about Florida’s extreme abortion ban,” E On 4 Campaign Director Lauren Brenzel said. New York Times on Thursday.

Anti-abortion advocates in Florida on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Floridians Protecting Freedom and several election officials, alleging that the abortion rights campaign has committed widespread voter fraud and to take the initiative to vote next month.

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If the process of obtaining a change of vote is deemed invalid by the courts, then the case may render the results of the vote completely invalid.

Florida requires a 60% majority of voters to approve ballot measures to pass a constitutional amendment, but poll data from New York Times/Sienna A poll conducted earlier this month found that only 46% of Floridians said they plan to support abortion rights reform at the ballot box.