Credit: Inside the MagicWith just over three weeks until the 2024 election, Florida has seen partisan politics ramp up over the last few weeks. The state has much on the line in this year’s election as both parties fight for supremacy.
However, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton hitting Florida weeks apart have complicated this election season.
In addition to the presidential, senate, and congressional elections, Florida has two ballot initiatives that could significantly alter the State Constitution.
The first ballet amendment would legalize recreational marijuana in the state. That amendment has created some strange bedfellows as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have come out for it, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has come out against it.
However, another amendment has reignited the feud between the state, Governor DeSantis, and The Walt Disney Company. Amendment 4 would create a constitutional amendment to legalize abortion in Florida.
Both sides of the abortion argument have bombarded the airwaves with ads supporting its side, but one ad, in particular, has drawn the ire of DeSantis and the State Department of Health.
In the ad, a Tampa woman said she found out she had a brain tumor while pregnant and would not receive treatment because she was pregnant. An abortion was the only way to save her life. The ad says:
The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby. I would lose my life. And my daughter would lose her mom. Florida has now banned abortion, even in cases like mine. Amendment 4 is going to protect women like me. We have to vote ‘yes’.
The Florida Department of Health sent a cease and desist letter to WCJB-TV, warning them not to air the ad. WCJB is an ABC affiliate in Florida. The Walt Disney Company owns ABC.
This is the ad Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is trying to suppress as a way to muzzle pro-choice groups that support Amendment 4. He is threatening TV stations with criminal charges. Sound familiar? Share it far, share it wide. Vote like your reproductive rights depend on it. pic.twitter.com/IDW10rTVel
— Howard Maffucci🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@HowardMaffucci) October 8, 2024
The cease-and-desist letter claims the ad is “false” and “dangerous.” It also says that while the First Amendment protects the station’s content, it does not have free rein to “disseminate false information.”
Abortion advocates say this is just another example of the DeSantis Administration putting its hand on the scale to tip voting in its favor. DeSantis has been accused of using public funds for anti-abortion ads running on stations and media outlets across the state and using his election integrity police to investigate voters who signed a petition in support of the amendment.
The Federal Communication Commission has now gotten involved in the dispute, telling the Florida Department of Health that the First Amendment protects the ad and it cannot punish the stations for airing it.
The Florida Pregnancy Care Network is using the same ad buyer as the state agencies, according to disclosure records. And its commercials often airs in close proximity to the state agency spots. pic.twitter.com/PttbdqSKcs
— Jason Garcia (@Jason_Garcia) October 11, 2024
Floridians Protecting Freedom, who sponsored Amendment 4, sent a letter to the stations saying:
This is not simply an instance where your station has received a baseless cease-and-desist letter in the context of a heated political campaign. Here, the Department is threatening the station with criminal prosecution if it does not cease running the Advertisement.
This is not just an unfounded request, it is unconstitutional state action. The Letter is a textbook example of government coercion that violates the First Amendment.
According to the cease and desist letter sent by the Florida Department of Health, any broadcast stations airing the ad would be subject to criminal charges, and the staff at these broadcast stations would be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.
The response will come on November 5, when voters get to decide if safe access to reproductive healthcare will be enshrined in the Florida Constitution. With less than a month until the election, everyone in Florida will have to keep hearing about abortion bans and recreational marijuana until these issues are finally decided.