Judge orders Florida's top doctor not to threaten TV networks over abortion rights ads

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A judge has blocked the head of the Florida Department of Health from taking further action to threaten television networks over an abortion rights commercial they aired.

Thursday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker sided with Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group that produced the commercial for a ballot measure that would add abortion rights to the state constitution if passed in the Nov. 5 election becomes. The group filed a lawsuit earlier this week over the state's communications with broadcasters.

“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disapproved speech 'false,'” the judge said in a written opinion.

He added: “To keep it simple for the state of Florida: It's the First Amendment, stupid.”

State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and John Wilson, who was then the top lawyer at the Department of Health before he unexpectedly resigned, sent a letter to television stations on Oct. 3 asking them to stop running an FPF advertisement, claiming that this is wrong and dangerous. The letter also states that criminal proceedings could take place.

FPF said about 50 broadcasters had run the ad and most or all of them had received the letter – and at least one had stopped running the commercial.

The group said the state was wrong to say the claims in the commercial were false. The state's appeal was against a woman's claim that the abortion she received in 2022 after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor was not permitted under current state law.

The state has not changed its position. In a statement on Thursday, a Health Ministry spokesperson again said the advertisements were “clearly false.”

The judge's order bars further action by the state until Oct. 29, when he plans a hearing on the issue.

The ballot measure is one of nine similar ones across the country, but the campaign on it is the most expensive yet, with ads costing about $160 million, according to media tracking firm AdImpact. It would require approval from 60% of voters and would override state law that bans abortions in most cases after the first six weeks of pregnancy, before women often realize they are pregnant.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has taken several steps against the campaign.