DeSantis using state money, time and his power to fight abortion rights
measure
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[October 22, 2024]
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — After a month of updating Floridians on
hurricanes, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is now focusing his official
office on fighting an abortion rights amendment, holding a campaign-like
rally at state expense two weeks before the election.
DeSantis' event Monday, which was capped with a prayer from the
archbishop of Miami and the lieutenant governor asking people to not
vote like atheists, came after the Department of Health's top lawyer
resigned over a letter he said the governor's office forced him to send
to television stations in an effort to stop a pro-Amendment 4 ad.
“When you're dealing with constitutional amendments your default should
always be no,” DeSantis said at the event attended by doctors who
opposed the abortion amendment. “You can always alter normal policies
and legislation. Once it's in the constitution, that's forever. You
really have zero chance of ever changing. it.”
Just before the event, former Department of Health top lawyer John
Wilson signed an affidavit stating that lawyers for DeSantis wrote a
letter under his name and told him to mail it to television stations
threatening legal action if they continued to air a Yes on 4 ad.
Wilson said in Monday's affidavit that he later resigned rather than
send additional letters. Last week a judge blocked the department from
taking any more action to threaten TV stations over the ads. Floridians
Protecting Freedom, the group that produced the commercial, filed a
lawsuit Wednesday over the state’s communications with stations.
“This affidavit exposes state interference at the highest level. It’s
clear the State is hellbent on keeping Florida’s unpopular, cruel
abortion ban in place," Yes on 4 campaign director Lauren Brenzel said
in a statement emailed to reporters. “Their extreme attacks on Amendment
4 are an anti-democratic tactic.”
The ballot measure is one of nine similar ones across the country, but
the campaign over it is the most expensive so far, with ads costing
about $160 million, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact. It
would require the approval of 60% of voters to be adopted and would
override the state law that bans abortion in most cases after the first
six weeks of pregnancy, which is before women often realize they’re
pregnant.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks out against Amendment 4 which would
protect access to abortion during a news conference with Florida
Physicians Against Amendment 4 Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Coral
Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
The DeSantis' administration has taken multiple steps against the
ballot measure. At Monday's event, a large crowd cheered DeSantis'
criticism of the amendment. The loudest cheers, though, were for Lt.
Gov. Jeanette Nunez.
After one of the doctors said his opposition to the amendment wasn't
religious, Nunez said the issue was religious for her.
“We cannot go to church and pray like Christians and turn around and
vote like atheists,” Nunez said to an extended standing ovation.
The event closed with a prayer by Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
“We pray ... that you awaken in every heart of the citizens of this
great state of Florida reverence for the work of your hands and
renew among your people a readiness to nurture and sustain your
precious gift of human life,” Wenski said.
A group critical of DeSantis issued a statement condemning the use
of government resources to hold the No on 4 event.
“DeSantis continued his weaponization of state government against
his own constituents by coordinating a taxpayer-funded press
conference with the political campaign opposing Amendment 4 in his
quest to silence the voices of doctors and patients suffering under
Florida’s extreme abortion ban,” said DeSantis Watch spokesman
Anders Croy.
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