Ron DeSantis Administration Sued After Threats To News Stations Over Pro-Choice Ads

Floridians Protecting Freedom accused the Health Department of launching a “campaign of intimidation” against the state’s abortion rights ballot measure.

With less than three weeks until Election Day, the war between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and supporters of the state’s pro-choice ballot measure is raging.

Floridians Protecting Freedom, the abortion rights collective behind Amendment 4, filed a lawsuit Wednesday morning against DeSantis’ Department of Health, accusing the agency of political censorship. The suit is in direct response to a cease-and-desist letter sent by the department to multiple TV news channels earlier this month that threatened to bring criminal charges against local outlets that aired an advertisement in support of the abortion rights measure.

The cease-and-desist letter is “an escalation of a broader State campaign to attack Amendment 4 using public resources and government authority to advance the State’s preferred characterization of its anti-abortion laws as the ‘truth’ and denigrate opposing viewpoints as ‘lies,’” the suit claims. (Scroll to the bottom of this article to read the full suit.)

Floridians Protecting Freedom states that the Health Department’s “campaign of intimidation” has caused at least one channel in Fort Myers to stop airing the Yes On 4 advertisement.

“The state of Florida’s crusade against Amendment 4 is unconstitutional government interference — full stop,” Lauren Brenzel, Yes On 4 campaign director, said in a news release. “The State cannot coerce television stations into removing political speech from the airwaves in an attempt to keep their abortion ban in place.”