Judge Tells DeSantis He Can’t Threaten Anyone for Airing Pro-Abortion Ad: 'It's the 1st Amendment, Stupid’

Late Thursday night, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) faced a blow in his ongoing crusade to thwart Amendment 4, a ballot measure to restore a right to abortion in the state. (Since May, Florida has enforced a six-week ban.) On Wednesday, Floridians Protecting Freedom, the campaign leading Amendment 4, filed a lawsuit to stop DeSantis' administration from threatening TV stations with possible criminal charges for airing their abortion rights ad. U.S. district judge Mark E. Walker quickly ruled that Florida’s health department, headed by an anti-abortion DeSantis appointee, can’t... do that.

“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false,'” Walker wrote in his blistering ruling. “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: It’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

In the ad in question, a Florida mother named Caroline shares the story of her terminal brain cancer diagnosis, which required her to have an abortion in order to start chemotherapy. “The doctors knew if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life and my daughter would lose her mom,” she says in the ad. “Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine.”

Floridians Protecting Freedom alleged in its legal complaint that DeSantis' health department then sent cease-and-desist letters to over 50 Florida TV stations that have been airing the ad, as the state of Florida falsely claims the ad is inaccurate because the state ban has an exception for some medical emergencies. The lawsuit states that at least one TV station stopped airing it as a result. “The fact is these ads are unequivocally false and detrimental to public health in Florida,” a spokesperson for Florida's health department told the Guardian in an email, attempting to rationalize the state's attacks on the ad. But doctors and legal experts say these exceptions don’t work in practice. And if, like Caroline, patients have a medical condition like cancer and can’t receive chemotherapy while pregnant, they can still be denied emergency abortion care because they’re not imminently dying.

“Of course, the surgeon general of Florida has the right to advocate for his own position on a ballot measure,” Walker wrote in his ruling. “But it would subvert the rule of law to permit the state to transform its own advocacy into the direct suppression of protected political speech.” In a statement, Lauren Brenzel, campaign director of Floridians Protecting Freedom, called Walker's ruling a "critical initial victory."

On a press call on Friday morning, Caroline said she was "surprised" and that it "stung" to learn about DeSantis' efforts to suppress her story. When she heard about the cease-and-desist letters he sent earlier this month, Caroline says she and her family were in the middle of packing up their home to evacuate from Hurricane Milton, so she didn't have time to process the right-wing political war on her story. Despite the attacks from DeSantis, Caroline told reporters that the response from "my community, my neighborhood" has been "all support and love."

In a statement, Lauren Brenzel, campaign director of Floridians Protecting Freedom, called Walker's ruling a "critical initial victory." The ACLU of Florida also told reporters on Friday that the one TV station that had pulled the ad featuring Caroline has since continued airing it.

Over the last several weeks, amid the final stretch before Election Day, DeSantis has been wielding the full powers of the governor's office to try and stop Amendment 4. Just this week, his administration released a 350-page report of unsubstantiated claims that the Amendment 4 campaign has engaged in widespread election fraud. Critics warn the report is meant to lay the groundwork to disqualify Amendment 4 if it succeeds. In September, several Florida voters said DeSantis sent police officers to their homes to question whether their signatures supporting the measure were fraudulent. DeSantis is also using taxpayer money to bankroll anti-abortion ads attacking the amendment on ESPN, CNN, The Weather Channel, and more.

Amendment 4 will need 60% of the vote to pass under Florida law. Polls from the last couple of months show support for the ballot measure ranging from 46% to 69% of voters. The latest polling from October 8 shows Amendment 4 at 46% support, but this week, a DeSantis administration official told the 19th they've seen numbers "in that 58 to 62% group."