TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ top deputies directed a Florida health department lawyer to threaten Florida television stations with criminal prosecution for running political advertisements that support enshrining abortion rights in the state’s Constitution, according to new court records.
Florida Department of Health general counsel John Wilson said he was given pre-written letters from one of DeSantis’ lawyers on Oct. 3 and told to send them under his own name, he wrote in a sworn affidavit Monday.
Although he had never participated in any discussions about the letters, Wilson sent them anyway, he wrote, setting off a firestorm that led to a federal judge last week granting a temporary restraining order against the state.
Wilson abruptly quit on Oct. 10, writing in his resignation letter that “A man is nothing without his conscience.” The letter, first reported by the Times/Herald, did not explicitly say he was resigning over the controversy.
But in his affidavit, Wilson said the decision was made to avoid sending out more letters.
“I resigned from my position as general counsel in lieu of complying with directives from (DeSantis general counsel Ryan) Newman and (deputy general counsel Jed) Doty to send out further correspondence to media outlets,” he wrote.
The court records are the most detailed account yet of how the governor’s office is pressuring top administration officials and state employees to carry out a taxpayer-funded campaign to defeat an abortion-rights measure on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Wilson’s letters threatened to criminally prosecute television stations if they did not take down a 30-second ad in support of Amendment 4, a ballot measure that if approved on Nov. 5 would broaden access to abortion.
The ad features a woman named Caroline who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer two years ago while pregnant with her second child. The woman says Florida’s six-week abortion ban would have prevented her from receiving a potentially life-saving abortion.
The letters are now the subject of a federal lawsuit, in which Wilson is being sued in his personal capacity along with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, the head of the Department of Health. In the lawsuit, Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind Amendment 4, claims the state agency’s threats are a violation of the group’s First Amendment rights to political speech.
A federal judge last week ordered the state to stop threatening TV stations, calling it a violation of First Amendment rights.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.