Florida official who quit after letter to TV stations over abortion ad blames DeSantis’ office | CPT PPP Coverage

The letters from the Health Department called the ad “false” and “dangerous” and warned the TV stations that they could face criminal prosecution if they continued to air it. Floridians Protecting Freedom, the organizers behind Amendment 4 and the ad, has disputed the claim that the commercial is false, and it called the cease-and-desist letter “a flagrant abuse of power.”

Wilson resigned a week after the letters were issued. In his resignation letter, which was obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, he wrote: “A man is nothing without his conscience. It has become clear in recent days that I cannot join you on the road that lies before the agency.”

Wilson said in his affidavit that he resigned to avoid having to send additional cease-and-desist letters to media outlets. The affidavit was entered as part of a federal lawsuit that Floridians Protecting Freedom filed over the DeSantis administration’s efforts against the ad, and it names Wilson and Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Lapado, as defendants.

Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Lapado, writing: “The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false.’ … To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

In a statement, the Health Department maintained that the ad is “unequivocally false.”

DeSantis and his fellow Republicans have waged an intense campaign against Amendment 4. The ballot measure would protect abortion access up until fetal viability, essentially undoing the state’s six-week ban. DeSantis has said that the amendment’s passage would represent “the end of the pro-life movement.”