Gov. Ron DeSantis Close legal advisers ordered the Florida Department of Health to send unconstitutional threats regarding an abortion measure, according to a federal court filing. The agency’s top lawyer was ordered to continue sending letters to television networks warning them of criminal charges if they continued to air pro-abortion ads and resigned in protest earlier this month, he wrote in an am affidavit filed Monday.

John Wilson, the now-former general counsel of the state Department of Health, wrote in his affidavit that DeSantis’ general counsel and his subordinates wrote the letters and instructed Wilson to send them. “I did not write the letters or participate in discussions about the letters before October 3,” Wilson wrote.

By the time he resigned on Oct. 10, the agency had sent threatening letters to about 50 stations across Florida. At least one station stopped airing the ad, according to court documents.

The measure, Amendment 4, would amend the Florida Constitution to prohibit the state legislature from passing abortion bans or other restrictions before the fetus is viable. It would also prohibit bans that do not provide exceptions for the patient’s health as determined by their health care provider.

The affidavit was filed as part of a lawsuit filed by Amendment 4 sponsor Floridians Protecting Freedom over the threats against television stations. The letters were just the latest drastic step DeSantis and other Florida officials have taken to oppose Amendment 4, including asking the Florida Supreme Court to keep it off the ballot entirely.

“This affidavit exposes state interference at the highest levels,” said Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for Floridians Protecting Freedom for Amendment 4. “It is clear that the state is committed to upholding Florida’s unpopular, cruel abortion ban. Your extreme attacks on Amendment 4 are an anti-democratic tactic to prevent Floridians from making their own decision about whether Amendment 4 should become law.”

DeSantis’ office and the state health department did not respond to questions about the lawsuit. The Intercept was unable to reach Wilson for comment.

“It’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

On October 1, Floridians Protecting Freedom began airing a television ad featuring a Tampa woman, Caroline Williams. Williams had to have an abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy because of a brain tumor that required chemotherapy. She had an abortion in April 2022, weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade condemned.

A Florida patient today faces far greater restrictions under similar circumstances. Under a ban signed by DeSantis that took effect in May 2024, Florida bans abortions after six weeks unless two doctors certify that the procedure is necessary to “save the pregnant woman’s life or pose a serious risk of pregnancy.” to avert significant and irreversible physical impairment”.

“Florida has now banned abortions even in cases like mine,” Williams says in the ad. “Amendment 4 will protect women like me.”

Two days after the “Caroline” commercial first aired, on October 3, the Florida Department of Health sent letters to television stations throughout Florida. So far, three of the dozens of stations that received a letter have been identified: WINK, a CBS affiliate in Fort Myers; WFLA, the NBC affiliate in Tampa; and WCJB, an ABC affiliate in Gainesville.

“The advertising is not only false; it is dangerous,” said the letter signed by Wilson. The letter claimed the ad constituted a “health nuisance” because it misrepresented the state’s abortion ban and threatened criminal charges against the broadcasters. At least one of the stations, WINK, decided to stop running the ad after receiving the letter, a court filing said.

The Federal Communications Commission immediately rejected the letter. “Threats against broadcasters for broadcasting content that conflicts with the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free expression,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in an Oct. 8 statement.

Floridians Protecting Freedom sued Florida’s surgeon general last week, claiming the ad accurately outlined the restrictions the current ban places on doctors and patients like Williams. “Under current Florida law, I would not have performed this abortion because terminating Caroline’s pregnancy could be considered a criminal offense,” a doctor wrote in an affidavit attached to the lawsuit. “Because the cancer was incurable, the abortion would not have saved the patient’s life and therefore may be illegal under Florida law.”

Floridians Protecting Freedom also argued that the department’s letters were an unconstitutional attempt to limit Amendment 4’s reach to voters. In less than 48 hours, the federal court concluded that the state’s letters were likely unconstitutional and dismissed the state’s arguments to the contrary as “nonsense.” ”

Mark E. Walker, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, ordered Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo to stop “any further action of coercion, menace or threat of consequences” against broadcasters airing the ads.

“To keep it simple for the state of Florida: It’s First Amendment stupid,” Walker wrote. “The Surgeon General of Florida has the right to advocate for his own position on a ballot measure. But it would undermine the rule of law if the state could turn its own advocacy into the direct suppression of protected political expression.”

A protest resignation

The new filing from Wilson, the Health Department’s former top lawyer, makes clear that DeSantis’ office orchestrated the letters despite Wilson’s opposition.

In his affidavit, Wilson claimed that Ryan Newman and Jed Doty, DeSantis’ general counsel and deputy general counsel, gave him the order to send the letters. A third attorney from the governor’s office, Deputy Attorney General Sam Elliott, sent drafts of the letters to Wilson as early as Oct. 3, his affidavit said.

According to his affidavit, Wilson resigned on Oct. 10 “instead of complying with instructions from the governor’s office” to “send further correspondence to the media.”

“A man is nothing without his conscience,” Wilson wrote in his resignation letter, according to the Miami Herald. “In recent days it has become clear that I cannot accompany you on the path that lies ahead of the agency.”

Wilson’s federal court affidavit also alleges that Newman directed him to execute contracts for outside attorneys “to be retained by the Department to assist in enforcement proceedings,” as threatened in the letters to television stations. The Department of Health and Human Services signed contracts worth up to $1.4 million with two law firms, according to purchase documents filed as part of the lawsuit.

At a news conference Monday, DeSantis criticized Amendment 4 as vague and extreme. However, the governor did not address the fact that his office had taken unconstitutional actions to suppress supportive ads.