Florida threatens news stations over ads in favor of abortion rights measures
Florida’s Health Department has sent a cease-and-desist letter to local news stations over an advertisement urging people to ballot measure that would expand abortion rights in the state.
In the ad, a woman identified as Caroline from Tampa, Florida, talks about being diagnosed with brain cancer during pregnancy. The state currently bans abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy.
“The doctors knew that if I didn’t end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mother,” she says. “Florida has now banned abortion, even in cases like mine.”
She then urges viewers to vote ‘yes’ on one The Florida ballot measure would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and restore access to the procedure, which was dramatically curtailed when the six-week ban went into effect in May of this year.
John Wilson, general counsel for the Florida Department of Health, called out the claim that women in Florida cannot get life-saving abortions “categorically false” in letters to local news stations, which the journalist first reported Jason Garcia and the news center Florida Politics.
“The ad is not only false; it is dangerous,” Wilson wrote. “Women experiencing pregnancy complications that pose a serious risk of death or substantial and irreversible physical disability can and should seek medical care in Florida.”
Although Florida, like every other state with an abortion ban, allows abortions in cases of medical emergencies, doctors across the country have said these bans are worded so vaguely and with so little regard for medical reality that they are unworkable in practice . Instead, doctors face the threat of criminal prosecution for violating the bans say they are forced to delay caring for women until they are sick enough.
On Tuesday, Jessica Rosenworcel, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, condemned the cease-and-desist letters.
“Broadcasters’ right to speak freely is rooted in the First Amendment,” Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Threats against broadcast stations for broadcasting content contrary to government positions are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of freedom of expression.”
Dozens of women have come forward with stories of being denied medically necessary abortions. In August, a New York state doctor told the Guardian that she had treated a woman with an ectopic pregnancy — which is nonviable and potentially life-threatening if left untreated — who had been turned away from a Florida emergency department.
In recent weeks, civil rights and fair election groups have grown increasingly alarmed by efforts by Florida’s right-wing government — led by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis — to undermine the state’s voting measure. Law enforcement officials investigated voters who signed a petition to get the measure on the ballot, while a government agency posted a notice website attacking the measure.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, abortion ballot measures have passed in a number of states, but Florida’s measure must secure 60% of the vote to pass—and support for the measure currently appears to be weakening to be very short. of that threshold, a recent one New York Times/Siena College survey found.
Nine other states will also vote on abortion-related ballot measures on Election Day in November.