A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday to prevent Florida’s health officials from taking action against television stations that aired advertisements supporting a ballot measure aimed at rolling back the state’s abortion restrictions.
U.S. District Chief Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida ruled in favor of Floridians Protecting Freedom, the coalition that sued state health officials over a cease-and-desist letter sent to TV stations airing the ad.
The group filed the lawsuit on Oct. 15, alleging that the state’s threat to prosecute broadcast stations for airing the ad amounted to a “deeply disturbing example of unconstitutional coercion.”
The measure, set to be voted on by Florida residents in November, seeks to enshrine access to abortion services in the state’s constitution and overturn the current six-week abortion ban.
State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who heads the Florida Health Department, and the department’s former general counsel, John Wilson, who resigned last week, were named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The ad, sponsored by the coalition, began airing on Oct. 1. and features a woman describing how she was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 20 weeks pregnant, before state restrictions that would have blocked the abortion she had before her treatment.
In a letter sent to multiple broadcast stations on Oct. 3, Florida’s Health Department called the ad “categorically false,” saying that abortions are permitted after six weeks if two physicians certify it’s necessary to save a woman’s life or to “avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”
The letter stated that the ad was “dangerous” because it could mislead pregnant women with complications into believing that an abortion is unavailable, leading them to seek medical care elsewhere or not at all.
It said that while the First Amendment protects TV stations’ right to air political ads, that right does not include “free rein to disseminate false advertisements” that could have “a detrimental effect on the lives and health of pregnant women in Florida.”
The coalition said that an exception under state law would not have applied in this case because the woman had a terminal diagnosis. They argued that abortion did not save her life, but only extended it.
In a 17-page order on Oct. 17, Walker ruled that political advertisements constitute political speech, which lies at the core of the First Amendment.
“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is false,” the judge stated in the ruling. “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”
According to the ruling, the plaintiff has met the irreparable injury element for a preliminary injunction, considering that at least one TV station had removed the coalition-sponsored ads after receiving the letter.
The judge issued a temporary restraining order against Ladapo, prohibiting him from “taking any further actions to coerce, threaten, or intimate repercussions directly or indirectly to television stations, broadcasters, or other parties for airing Plaintiff’s speech, or undertaking enforcement action against Plaintiff for running political advertisements or engaging in other speech protected under the First Amendment.”
The restraining order is set to expire at 5 p.m. local time on Oct. 29, the same date a preliminary injunction hearing will be held, according to the ruling.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Florida Health Department for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
Jessica Rosenworcel, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, issued a statement on Oct. 8 criticizing Florida health officials for the cease-and-desist letter sent to TV stations, saying that the move is “dangerous” because it “undermines the fundamental principle of free speech.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times