The Florida Department of Health is barred from going after local television stations for airing a pro-abortion rights ad.
A federal judge sided with stations after the surgeon general threatened to bring criminal charges against broadcasters.
And the judge didn’t mince words.
“To keep it simple for the state of Florida: It’s the First Amendment, stupid,” Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker of the Northern District of Florida wrote on Thursday as he granted a restraining order against the surgeon general.
The case stems from a 30-second ad by the group Floridians Protecting Freedom, which is the group behind Amendment 4.
The ad features a brain cancer survivor named Caroline.
“If I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, lose my life and my daughter would lose her mom,” she said in the ad.
Caroline said she took that option in 2022.
“It was the hardest decision that I have ever made in my life,” she told News4JAX.
But today, Caroline wouldn’t have that choice.
“Florida has now banned abortion in cases like mine. Amendment 4 is going to protect women like me,” she said in the ad.
The state health department said the ad’s claims are “false” and “dangerous” to the public health.
Stations across the state aired the ad and the Health Department’s general counsel responded by sending out cease-and-desist letters.
“I was surprised, because my community, my neighborhood, it was all support and love,” Caroline said.
Floridians Protecting Freedom then filed a lawsuit asking the court to keep the state from following through on threats to sue.
The judge ruled the health department’s threats were “viewpoint discrimination.”
He said there was “a substantial likelihood of proving an ongoing violation of its First Amendment rights through the threatened direct penalization of its political speech.”
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health sent the following statement:
“The fact is these ads are unequivocally false and detrimental to public health in Florida. The media continues to ignore the truth that Florida’s heartbeat protection law always protects the life of a mother and includes exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and human trafficking.”
Florida Department of Health
The group behind the ad claims those exceptions don’t do enough, throwing women like Caroline into harrowing situations.
The judge’s order is valid through Oct. 29, which is a week before election day.
That ruling keeps Florida’s surgeon general from going after local stations for airing the Amendment 4 ad.
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