TALLAHASSEE – As Florida residents begin voting by mail ahead of the Nov. 5 election, the heated legal battle over a ballot measure that would enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution is escalating.

A federal judge on Thursday sided with supporters of the proposal, which will appear as Change 4 on the ballot, filing a lawsuit alleging the state violated the First Amendment by threatening television stations over an ad supporting the measure.

The lawsuit, filed by Floridians Protecting Freedom, sought a preliminary injunction and preliminary injunction to prevent Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration from “taking further actions to directly or indirectly coerce, threaten, television networks, broadcasters, or other parties.” or have direct or indirect effects on it”. for broadcasting the advertising.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker on Friday scheduled a hearing on the request for a preliminary injunction for Oct. 29.

The judge issued the preliminary injunction Thursday, which also bars state officials from taking “enforcement action against” the Floridians Protecting Freedom political committee for running the ads “or engaging in other speech protected by the First Amendment.” The injunction expires at 5:00 p.m. on the day of the hearing.

The lawsuit came amid an intense political fight over Amendment 4, which DeSantis and his administration are fighting bitterly. Floridians Protecting Freedom began pursuing the ballot initiative last year after DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a law that largely prevents abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy.

The Florida Department of Health sent letters to television stations earlier this month asking them to stop running a Floridians Protecting Freedom ad. The agency claimed the ad contained false and “dangerous” information and threatened injunctions or possible criminal prosecution against the broadcasters.

But Walker’s order Thursday said the ad was “political speech – speech at the core of the First Amendment.”

The judge referred to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in which he said: “Reaffirms the principle that the government cannot do indirectly what it cannot do directly by threatening third parties with legal sanctions for speech.” censor those she disapproves of.”

The DeSantis administration “cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech by simply declaring the disapproved speech ‘false,'” Walker wrote.

“The very purpose of the First Amendment is to prevent the public power from assuming a guardianship of public opinion by regulating the press, speech and religion,” he added. “To keep it simple for the state of Florida: It’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

The controversial ad tells the story of a woman who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 18 weeks of pregnancy. Doctors told the woman they couldn’t treat her with chemotherapy or radiation during her pregnancy, so she had an abortion. The ad claims that Florida’s current law, which restricts abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, would prevent abortions in such cases.

The Health Department’s letter contradicted that claim, saying the six-week law provides exceptions to allow abortions to save the lives of pregnant women or “to avert a serious risk of significant and irreversible physical impairment of an important bodily function.” The letter cited a law targeting “sanitary nuisance” as a threat to television broadcasters, which Walker sharply rebuked in his ruling on Thursday.

“It is no answer to the Department of Health simply using its traditional police powers to protect health and safety by prosecuting ‘false advertising’ – when the state can rebrand the discriminatory suppression of political speech as ‘health nuisance.'” , then any political viewpoint that the state disagrees with is fair game for censorship,” the judge wrote.

Walker noted that the state “has actively conducted its own anti-Amendment 4 campaign to educate the public about its views on Florida’s abortion laws and to correct the record on pro-Amendment 4 speech as it sees fit.”

The woman in the ad, identified only as “Caroline” out of concerns for her personal safety, joined other supporters of the proposal during a virtual press conference on Friday.

“For me, the abortion treatment was medically necessary to save my life,” she told reporters.

The woman said she was surprised when the ad became the focus of a legal dispute.

“It hurt a little bit because I initially received so much compassion and support,” she said, until the letters were sent to the stations.

“I was also packing up my house to evacuate to Milton, so I didn’t really have time to think about it,” she added, referring to Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Sarasota County on Oct. 10 and had widespread impacts Damage caused the Gulf Coast and throughout Central Florida.

The DeSantis administration has targeted the proposal in other ways, such as paying for public notices urging a “no” vote on the measure and setting up a website warning against it.

Additionally, the Florida Department of State’s Bureau of Election Crime and Security last week released a 388-page report accusing some of the workers collecting signatures for the ballot initiative of fraud. The report also accuses Floridians Protecting Freedom of illegally paying workers based on the number of signatures collected.

Opponents of the abortion measure filed lawsuits Tuesday seeking to invalidate the proposed change, relying heavily on the state’s report.

“The existence of fraud and intentional misconduct, the material failure to comply with signature verification laws, and the significant irregularities in the collection and submission of petitions in support of Amendment 4 adversely affect the sanctity of the ballot and the integrity of the election,” it said in the lawsuit filed in the 9th Circuit. “Fraud and intentional misconduct permeated the entire petition collection and review process to the extent that the validity of the placement of Amendment 4 on the ballot is compromised.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuits, filed in numerous jurisdictions across the state, are represented by attorney Alan Lawson, a former Florida Supreme Court justice.

Lauren Brenzel, director of the Floridians Protecting Freedom campaign, called the litigation “a deeply disturbing anti-democratic effort” to discourage voters from speaking out on abortion rights.

“This campaign was conducted diligently and adhered to state law in every respect. What we are seeing now are nothing more than dishonest distractions and desperate attempts to silence voters,” Brenzel said in a statement.