![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/desantis-png.webp\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe ad in question is the same one that aired in Florida during the vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. It features a woman named Caroline who needed to have an abortion and cancer treatments after a brain tumor diagnosis in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such a difficult situation would have been complicated by Florida\u2019s six-week abortion ban today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom,\u201d the woman says. \u201cFlorida has now banned abortion \u2026 even in cases like mine. Amendment 4 is going to protect women like me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DeSantis defends ‘election police’ targeting abortion rights amendment support<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter \u2014 dated October 3 and sent by the Florida Department of Health to WFLA TV\u2019s vice president Mark Higgins \u2014 was shared on social media by journalist Jason Garcia, who accused the administration of \u201ctrying to intimidate\u201d the TV station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DeSantis administration had previously been accused of using his election police dragnet to target citizens who signed a petition that successfully put Amendment 4 on November\u2019s ballots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida is one of several states with reproductive rights on the ballot this November. If passed, Amendment 4 would enshrine the right to abortion care in the state\u2019s constitution, effectively overturning the six-week ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The department claims the ad is illegal under section 386.01 of Florida law that allows the state to remove any “nuisance” that “threatens or impairs” people\u2019s health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe advertisement is not only false; it is dangerous,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Health Department said that if the ad is not removed within 24 hours, the department will initiate legal proceedings to obtain an injunction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics have accused the state government of \u201cfascism\u201d and trying to silence political rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leon County Democrats responded: \u201cOutrageous bullying using the government. Pure fascism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFloridians, THIS is not democracy!\u201d said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party. \u201cWe do not live in a free state, free of government interference, free of government intimidation and free of government overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe DeSantis regime is threatening TV stations with prosecution for running ads supporting abortion rights and Amendment 4,\u201d added former state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, who is running for the state Senate. \u201cFlorida is not a free state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-64a-png.webp\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAmendment 4 would codify the right to an abortion at any point before fetal viability, and prevent laws in the state from restricting access before that point. It would also prevent laws from interfering with abortions after that point in the pregnancy if necessary to \u201cprotect the patient\u2019s health\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida\u2019s ban on abortion at roughly six weeks of pregnancy \u2014 before many women know they are pregnant \u2014 is among the most severe anti-abortion laws in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It came into effect this past May after the Supreme Court revoked a constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe vs Wade in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida\u2019s six-week ban, like its 12-week predecessor, has exceptions for women whose lives are endangered by their pregnancies, but hospitals and medical providers have been hesitant to test such exceptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ron DeSantis\u2019s administration has appeared to threaten a local TV station with legal action for airing an abortion rights campaign ad. The ad in question is the same one that aired in Florida… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":50584,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/desantis-png.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[9968],"class_list":["post-50582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-desantis-administration-threatens-local-tv-station-for-airing-abortion-rights-campaign-ads"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50585,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50582\/revisions\/50585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}