A judge has blocked the Florida Department of Health Commissioner from taking any further threatening action over an abortion rights commercial being aired by a television station.
Thursday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker Floridians Defending Freedoma group that produced a commercial promoting a ballot measure that would add abortion rights to the state constitution if passed in the Nov. 5 election.
The group filed a lawsuit earlier this week over communications between the state and the station.
“The government cannot permit indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring offensive speech 'false,'” the judges wrote in their opinion.
He added, “To put it plainly for the state of Florida, this is the First Amendment, idiot.”
State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and John Wilson, then the top attorney at the Department of Health until he abruptly resigned, sent a letter to the television station on October 3 calling FPF's advertising false and dangerous. , asked that the broadcast be canceled.
The letter also states that he may be subject to criminal proceedings.
FPF said about 50 stations were running the ad, most or all of which received the letter, and at least one station stopped airing the commercial.
The group argued that the state was wrong in claiming that the claims in the commercial were false.
The state objected to the woman's argument that current state law does not allow for an abortion she underwent in 2022 after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
The country has not changed its position. A Ministry of Health spokesperson reiterated in a statement Thursday that the ad was “patently false.”
The judge's order bars any further action by the state until Oct. 29, when it plans to hold a public hearing on the matter.
The voting system is one of nine similar ones across the country, but the campaign surrounding it is the most expensive to date, with around $160 million spent on advertising, according to media tracking firm AdImpact. It's a dollar.
The measure, which would require approval from 60% of voters, would override a state law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before the woman even realizes she's pregnant.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has taken multiple actions against voting control campaigns.
