Ron DeSantis threatens Tampa television station airing pro-choice ads with criminal charges

Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) is threatening to prosecute WFLA-TV, the NBC affiliate for the Tampa Bay area, for airing advertisements that support Amendment 4 in Florida, which, if passed with 60 per cent of the vote, would amend the Florida state constitution to enshrine abortion rights. On a letter, sent to WFLA-TV via the Florida Department of Health, it was stated that the ads allegedly violated Florida’s “sanitary nuisance” law; violators of the law would face being charged with a second-degree misdemeanour, and, in this case, employees of the Nexstar-owned television station would face 60 days in jail. October 3, 2024Mark HigginsWFLA-TVPO. Box 1410Tampa, FL 33601mhiggins@wfla.comDear Mr. Higgins:The Florida Department of Health has been notified that your company is disseminating a political advertisement claiming that current Florida law does not allow physicians to perform abortions necessary to preserve the lives and health of pregnant women.This claim is categorically false. Florida's Heartbeat Protection Act does not prohibit abortion if a physician determines the gestational age of the fetus is less than 6 weeks. § 390.0111(1), Fla. Stat. After 6 weeks, an abortion may be performed if “*[t]wo physicians certify in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment, the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant woman's life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition.” § 390.0111(1)(a). Fla. Stat. The two-physician requirement is waived in the case of an emergency medical procedure. § 390.011(1)(b). Fla. Stat. And while ‘physicians must exercise professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of a fetus in the third trimester, “if preserving the life and health of the fetus conflicts with preserving the life and health of the pregnant woman, the physician must consider preserving the woman's life and health the overriding and superior concern.” § 390.0111(4), Fla. Stat.The advertisement is not only false: it is dangerous. Women faced with pregnancy complications posing a serious risk of death or substantial and irreversible physical impairment may and should seek medical treatment in Florida. However, if they are led to believe that such treatment is unavailable under Florida law, such women could foreseeably travel out of state to seek emergency medical care, seek emergency medical care from unlicensed providers in Florida, or not seek emergency medical care at all. Such actions would threaten or impair the health and lives of these women.Under section 386.01, Florida Statutes, “the commission of any act, by an individual, municipality, organization, or corporation... by which the health or life of an individual, or the health or lives of individuals, may be threatened or impaired” constitutes a “sanitary nuisance.” The Department of Health, upon determining the existence of such nuisance, must notify the person or persons committing the nuisance “to remove or cause to be removed the same within 24 hours.” § 386.03(1). Fla. Stat. If the nuisance is not removed within the time prescribed, the Department is authorized to institute legal proceedings under section 381.0012, Florida Statutes, to obtain an injunction. § 386.03(2)(c), Fla. Stat The Department is further authorized to “[i]nstitute criminal proceedings in the county court in the jurisdiction of which the condition exists against all persons failing to comply with notices to correct sanitary nuisance conditions.” § 386.03(2)(b). Fla. Stat. Creating, keeping, or maintaining a nuisance injurious to health is a second-degree misdemeanor. § 386.051. Fla. Stat.While your company enjoys the right to broadcast political advertisements under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, section 4 of the Florida Constitution, that right does not include free rein to disseminate false advertisements which, if believed, would likely have a detrimental effect on the lives and health of pregnant women in Florida./s/ John WilsonJohn WilsonGeneral CounselFlorida Department of HealthThe advertisement in question is this one. The ad features Caroline, a Tampa woman who had to get an abortion along with cancer treatments due to her brain tumour diagnosis in 2022. YouTube VideoThe fight for abortion rights has become even more heated, with the Supreme Court denying the Biden administration from requiring Texas hospitals to provide emergency abortions and the Georgia Supreme Court reinstating the Peach State’s near-ban on abortions.