'The First Amendment is being disrespected': Judge criticizes DeSantis administration for intimidation tactics towards television stations
On Thursday, a federal judge classified the situation as he sided with regional TV stations in an uncommon dispute concerning a pro-abortion rights television advertisement.
U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker from the Northern District of Florida issued a temporary restraining order against Florida's surgeon general, following the state health department's warning to impose criminal charges against stations airing the advertisement.
The controversy originated from a campaign ad by Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the “Yes on 4 Campaign,” promoting a ballot measure that aims to overturn Florida's six-week abortion ban by enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
In the thirty-second advertisement, a brain cancer survivor named Caroline shared her experience. The state law, she claimed, would have prevented her from obtaining a life-saving abortion.
“The doctors warned me that if I didn't terminate the pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mother,” she expressed on camera. “Florida now prohibits abortions, even in cases similar to mine.”
The state health department, an integral component of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration, which has vigorously campaigned against the pro-abortion amendment, deemed the ad's claims "false" and "threatening" to public health.
John Wilson, the health department's legal counsel, issued cease-and-desist letters to various television stations airing the ad. Floridians Protecting Freedom later filed a lawsuit against Wilson and the state's surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, contending that the threats amounted to "unconstitutional coercion and viewpoint discrimination" and requested the court to bar the state from pursuing legal action.
Thursday saw the judge agreeing that the department's threats constituted "viewpoint discrimination" and wrote that the group demonstrated "a strong likelihood of proving an ongoing infringement of its First Amendment rights through the threatened penalization of its political speech."
The judge's temporary restraining order remains valid until October 29, effectively inhibiting Ladapo from intimidating local stations for broadcasting the Amendment 4 advertisement.
Walker's issuance of the temporary restraining order occurred just days after Wilson's resignation from his post. In a letter acquired by the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald, Wilson penned, "A man is nothing without his conscience," and added, "It has become clear in recent days that I cannot accompany you on the path that the agency is venturing."
Wilson failed to mention the advertisement controversy.
The state's health department persisted in asserting that the abortion rights advertisement was "undeniably false and detrimental to public health in Florida." Jae Williams, the department's communications director, reported to CNN Thursday that "the media consistently disregards the truth that Florida’s heartbeat protection law always safeguards the mother's life and includes exceptions for rape, incest, and human trafficking."
Medical experts, however, have offered varying perspectives. According to a report released last month by the nonprofit group Physicians for Human Rights, Florida's extreme abortion ban "creates an impractical legal landscape that jeopardizes both patients and medical professionals." The ban, they asserted, "leads to preventable suffering" and "compels clinicians to depart from established medical standards and ethical principles."
The health department's threats proved so intimidating that WINK, a CBS affiliate, withdrew the advertisement from its broadcasts, as reported by Florida Politics. Other stations chose to continue airing the advertisement, some as late as Thursday night, according to the TVEyes video search service.
Subsequently, the broadcasters received support from Jessica Rosenworcel, the Democratic chair of the FCC, who earlier this month declared, "Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that clashes with the government's perspectives are perilous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech."
Businesses facing pressure from media can significantly impact public discourse. In response to the controversy, some media outlets continued to air the pro-abortion rights advertisement despite threats from the Florida health department, asserting their commitment to upholding First Amendment rights and freedom of speech.
