FCC: Florida Health Officials Demand to Remove Pro-Abortion Ad 'Undermines Principles of Free Speech'

The FCC has responded to the Florida State Department of Health after it sent a cease and desist letter to Tampa station WFLA and also WCJB in Gainesville demanding they stop airing an abortion rights ad. FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel issued a statement saying, in part, “Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech.” Earlier this week, we told you that the ad features a woman named Caroline who needed an abortion and cancer treatments after a brain tumor diagnosis in 2022, which would be illegal because of Florida’s six-week abortion ban. Orlando Sentinel investigative journalist Jason Garcia posted a letter that The Florida Department of Health sent to WFLA vice president Mark Higgins, which says, in part, “the advertisement is not only false; it is dangerous." "The DeSantis administration is now trying to intimidate television stations into taking down ads supporting Amendment 4 – the constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would overturn the near-total abortion ban that Ron DeSantis signed into law last year," Garcia posted to X. Florida Politics reported that the state’s Department of Health also sent a letter to the Gainesville station's general manager Alan Chatman and vice president of Gray Television Mike Jones, warning about the potential of criminal charges, saying the ad contains false information. “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.” “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,” wrote DOH General Counsel John Wilson. The campaign supporting Amendment 4, which wants to limit government interference with abortion, Floridians Protecting Freedom, defended the ad saying, "The letter is a textbook example of government coercion that violates the first amendment.” The campaign also said the ad was accurate. Under Florida’s current six-week abortion ban, women can get abortions later to save their lives — if they get two doctors in writing to say so. “The Department may or may not honestly believe that its restrictions on reproductive healthcare are sufficient to protect women’s health. But that is not the lived experience of pregnant patients and doctors in states with abortion bans like Florida,” the campaign said. “Pregnant patients who have cancer generally cannot undergo chemotherapy. And because the cancer is not immediately life threatening, an abortion is not permitted.”

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FCC: Florida Health Officials Demand to Remove Pro-Abortion Ad 'Undermines Principles of Free Speech'

Kevin Eck

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