Judge Blocks Florida Threats Against TV Stations over Abortion Ad
A U.S. District Court judge issued an emergency temporary restraining order Thursday that blocks Florida Surgeon General John Ladapo from acting against local TV stations that run an ad supporting abortion rights. “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid,” said the order from Mark Walker, chief judge for the North District of Florida. The order said the state's Department of Health may take no further action to “coerce, threaten, or intimate repercussions directly or indirectly to television stations, broadcasters, or other parties” for running a campaign ad that advocates protecting abortion rights.
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“The court has affirmed what we’ve known all along: the government cannot silence the truth about Florida’s extreme abortion ban. It’s a deadly ban that puts women’s lives at risk,” said Lauren Brenzel, a Campaign Director for Floridians Defending Freedom, the group that sought the restraining order and made the ad targeted by the Florida Department of Health. The ad, called Caroline, calls for Floridians to prevent the deaths of pregnant women by voting for ballot amendment 4, which would prevent Florida from making laws restricting or delaying abortions.
The Florida DOH threatened to prosecute TV stations for violating laws against “sanitary nuisance.” DOH sent letters to stations that Nexstar, Gray Television and Fort Myers Broadcasting Company own. Fort Myers Broadcasting's WINK-TV Fort Myers pulled the ad after receiving the letters, according to the court order. “The fact is these ads are unequivocally false and detrimental to public health in Florida,” a DOH spokesperson said in an email. “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.” Neither NAB nor any of the targeted broadcasters commented on the DOH threats or the temporary restraining order. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a release earlier this month condemned the DOH letters (see 2410080056).
The DOH letter was “blatantly unconstitutional,” especially after a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year -- NRA v. Vullo -- reaffirmed that viewpoint discrimination violates the First Amendment, said Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. That SCOTUS decision is repeatedly cited in the restraining order. Corn-Revere said there was little doubt that the legal challenges against the Florida DOH would succeed, which may explain why the state’s broadcaster targets haven’t vocally protested. “The situation has been quickly resolved,” he said.
“The government," Walker wrote in his order Thursday, "cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false.’” He continued, “By threatening criminal proceedings for broadcasting” a political ad, Florida “has engaged in viewpoint discrimination.” Arguments that the Florida DOH “is merely flexing its traditional police powers to protect health and safety” are “no answer,” the order added. “If the State can re-brand rank viewpoint discriminatory suppression of political speech as a ‘sanitary nuisance,’ then any political viewpoint with which the State disagrees is fair game for censorship.”
Floridians Defending Freedom is seeking a preliminary injunction against the DOH to prevent possible prosecution. A hearing is set on the injunction for Oct. 29, which is also the date the temporary restraining order expires.