For another, DeSantis — the man who signed back-to-back abortion bans into law here — has thrown the full force of the state government behind coordinated efforts to tank the measure. Read more at Rolling Stone
What the First Amendment does is leave matters like that to the public marketplace of ideas,” Stafford said, “not the whims of a government censor.” The decision Walker handed down on Tuesday extends an Oct. 18 order barring state officials from “trampling” on the free speech rights of those they disagree with. “The government cannot … Read more
A lawyer for the Florida Department of Health would not rule out criminal charges stemming from a round of cease and desist letters that were sent by the agency to stop a TV ad promoting this year’s abortion access ballot initiative. Read more at Politico
Deborah Dorbert was five months pregnant in November 2022 when learned that her baby was not going to live. Late in the second trimester of her pregnancy, a scan revealed that his kidneys and lungs were failing to develop; a specialist diagnosed the baby with Potter syndrome, a condition that occurs when there is a … Read more
But Florida stands out for how DeSantis is deploying multiple levers of power within his administration to discredit the amendment and even block political speech about it. While courts have pushed back on some of those efforts, they amount to the most sweeping and brazen government-funded campaigns opposing an abortion ballot measure this election cycle. … Read more
“To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid,” Walker wrote. Read more at NBC News
In recent weeks, one state agency launched a website attacking the ballot measure, another state agency threatened local television stations that had run an ad supporting it, and an election police unit created by DeSantis started investigating claims of fraud in the signature-gathering process for it months after it was approved for the ballot. Read … Read more
“The U.S. Supreme Court has resoundingly held that ‘[g]overnment officials cannot to attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors’,” the complaint said. “FPF’s advertisement is pure political speech at the very heart of the First Amendment’s protections.” “‘[T]he advocacy of a politically controversial viewpoint’ is, in … Read more
In November, Florida voters will have a chance to codify abortion rights. It could be the only way that people with medically complex pregnancies could access the procedure in the state. Read more at 19th News
In a last-minute effort to kill a proposed ballot amendment that would restore abortion rights in Florida, state officials are accusing a group that gathered signatures to get the amendment on this year’s ballot fraud. Read more at Salon
