Group behind Amendment 4 sues DeSantis administration over threats to TV stations

Citing First Amendment rights, the campaign seeks to prevent the state from continuing to “coerce, threaten, or intimate” repercussions to broadcasters airing the ads.

Supporters of Amendment 4 – the citizen-led initiative that if passed in Nov. with at least 60% of the vote will enshrine the right to abortion in Florida’s Constitution – are pushing back against the DeSantis administration’s efforts to derail the proposed reform.

On Wednesday, Floridians Protecting Freedom – the campaign behind the amendment – filed a federal lawsuit accusing the DeSantis administration of violating the organization’s First Amendment rights by threatening to criminally prosecute television stations if they do not stop running an ad in support of Amendment 4. 

The ad in question features “Caroline,” a Tampa woman who was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor in 2022. Twenty weeks pregnant at the time, Caroline made the difficult decision to obtain an abortion so that she could receive chemotherapy treatments to extend her life and allow her more time with her daughter and husband. 

After DeSantis’ six-week abortion ban went into effect in May, “Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine,” “Caroline” said in the ad.

In response to the TV spot, on Oct. 3 the Florida Department of Health sent cease-and-desist letters to at least two Florida TV stations. The letters threatened prosecution if the stations did not take down the ad, which the Florida government claims contains false information that could put women’s health at risk. 

‘Very confusing’ wording

Florida’s six-week ban allows for abortions in certain instances, the state claims, including to save the life of the mother or averting irreversible physical impairment. But proponents of Amendment 4 say that uncertainty over the state’s law and the threat of criminal prosecution could endanger the lives of women like “Caroline.”

“Florida’s extreme ban does not allow exceptions for cases like Caroline’s — doctors and lawyers agree,” said Dr. Alexandra Levy, an OBGYN in Hollywood, Florida. 

“If Caroline had been diagnosed with that same tumor this year while pregnant, she wouldn’t have been able to get abortion care in our state, and for the Florida Department of Health to argue otherwise is disingenuous and dangerous,” Dr. Neha Sharma, a radiation oncologist in Miami, said in a written statement from The Committee to Protect Health Care, a national organization of doctors, health care professionals, and advocates.  

“The Legislature uses wording that is very confusing,” Dr. Cecilia Grande, a Florida OB-GYN and a member of the Committee to Protect Health Care Reproductive Freedom Taskforce, told Floricua about the phrasing of the six-week ban. “They say, well, if the patient’s life is at risk, you can go ahead and induce the delivery. But what is ‘at risk’? Do we wait for them to be very sick, or just slightly sick? We’re told to do malpractice; we’re told to send the patient home and wait for the patient to be sick.”

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Dr. Mona V. Mangat, an internal medicine/pediatric specialist and Board Chair of the Committee to Protect Health Care in St. Petersburg, Florida, agrees.

“Every pregnancy is unique and requires different medical considerations and care. But under Florida’s ban, doctors risk prison time just in trying to treat our patients,” she told Floricua. 

Fighting back

The campaign is seeking to prevent the state from continuing to “coerce, threaten, or intimate” repercussions to broadcasters airing the ads. It is also asking the state to withdraw its cease-and-desist letters, as well as monetary damages to compensate for the loss of airtime after at least one TV station in southwest Florida stopped airing the “Caroline” ad, according to the lawsuit.

“The state of Florida’s crusade against Amendment 4 is unconstitutional government interference — full stop,” Lauren Brenzel, the Floridians Protecting Freedom campaign director, said in a statement. 

Brenzel’s position was supported by the head of the Federal Communications Commission, who earlier this month issued a statement denouncing the state’s cease-and-desist letters and defending the right of TV stations to air political ads under the First Amendment.

“Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. 

Apart from the legal wrangling, doctors express concern for their patients and fear that the six-week ban is not only extreme, but “dangerous.”

“It’s alarming and shameful that the Department of Health is more focused on trying to discredit a woman with terminal cancer than on protecting women from the state’s dangerous abortion ban,” said Dr. Levy. “The only way to stop this extreme ban is to vote YES ON 4. We need to make it clear: politicians are never more qualified to make health care decisions than women and their doctors.”

RELATED: DeSantis administration ramps up efforts to defeat Amendment 4 as poll shows widespread support for it