Ron DeSantis’ Administration Is Threatening to Prosecute the Media for Airing Pro-Choice Ads
The problem is especially acute for cancer patients, like Caroline, who must undergo an abortion in order to receive chemotherapy. Florida’s exception does not clarify when a patient’s cancer is severe enough to justify termination. These women may have to wait until their tumor grows before a doctor will certify that it will cause “substantial and irreversible physical impairment.” In fact, Physicians for Human Rights interviewed a Florida doctor whose patient needed an abortion so she could undergo chemotherapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer. The doctor worked with lawyers to compile the immense amount of paperwork necessary to prove that her patient qualified for an exception. It took so long that she ultimately urged the patient to drive four hours to terminate elsewhere. This denial of medical care is precisely what “Caroline” warns against.
Read more at Slate
DeSantis Seeks To Silence Brain Cancer Patient Speaking Out About Her Abortion
Lawyers representing Amendment 4 are accusing the Department of Health of an “unconstitutional attempt to coerce the station into censoring protected speech,” and demanding the stations keep the ad up on the air. “This is not just an unfounded request, it is an unconstitutional state action,” lawyers with the Elias Law Group wrote. “The letter is a textbook example of government coercion that violates the First Amendment.”
Read more at Rolling Stone
DeSantis Threatening Jail Time for Running Abortion Rights Ads in Florida
Now we learn that the state is quite literally threatening jail time for the employees of stations that agree to run one of the ads for the pro-choice amendment. You heard that right — not sue under some claim of defamation but actual criminal charges.
Read more at Talking Points Memo