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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration had already tried to put its thumb on the scale against Amendment 4, a statewide measure that could enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. And now the admin has added to that disturbing trend.
Florida’s six-week abortion ban is one of the strictest in the country. The DeSantis administration recently had its election police unit investigate people who had signed a petition to get Amendment 4 on the ballot. Then the administration used taxpayer money to launch an anti-abortion website. The administration also used state money to air Orwellian television ads proclaiming that “Florida cares about women and families.”
Now the DeSantis administration appears to be trying to intimidate people who have run an ad that promotes a “yes” vote on Amendment 4.
“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,” a woman says in the ad, titled “Caroline.”
“Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine,” she says.
Investigative journalist Jason Garcia published a letter from the Florida Department of Health’s general counsel to the general manager of WFLA-TV, the NBC affiliate in the Tampa Bay area. The letter, dated Oct. 3, argues that the ad contains a “categorically false” claim about abortion in Florida — and warns that the ad is in violation of state law.
“The advertisement is not only false; it is dangerous,” the letter reads. “Women faced with pregnancy complications posing a serious risk of death or substantial or irreversible physical impairment may and should seek medical treatment in Florida.”
In practice, Florida’s law hasn’t been so clear. Even though the law includes exceptions for rape and incest in certain cases, the law has confused doctors and caused a chilling effect among providers. The problem has been so glaring that the DeSantis administration has threatened doctors who don’t provide emergency care in these confusing scenarios, which are only occurring because of the law Republicans put in place.
In another letter Garcia posted online, lawyers for the group sponsoring Amendment 4 defended the ad as true and urged a Florida TV station to continue carrying it.
The Florida Department of Health’s letter “is a flagrant abuse of power and must be rejected,” the lawyers wrote.
The DeSantis administration sure seems like it’s attempting to hide the dangerous impacts of Florida’s abortion laws from public view.