Florida fires back in abortion information dispute
Attorneys for the state late Monday urged a Leon County circuit judge to reject a political committee's request for a temporary injunction to block the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration from disseminating disputed information about a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights.
The proposed amendment, Amendment 4, is on the ballot in the Nov. 5 election. It would enshrine abortion rights in the Constitution.
A 26-page document filed in Leon County circuit court said the state Constitution does not give the political committee, Floridians Protecting Freedom, a "right to muzzle AHCA's public statements about an issue of immense public concern."
Floridians Protecting Freedom, which is leading efforts to pass the amendment, filed a lawsuit and an emergency motion for a temporary injunction on Sept. 12.
The case stems from a controversial website and ads that the agency has used to disseminate information about the proposed Amendment 4.
The proposed amendment reads: "No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature's constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion."
With Gov. Ron DeSantis helping spearhead efforts to defeat the amendment, Floridians Protecting Freedom contends the agency has violated state law by using public resources to spread inaccurate information about the proposal.
Judge Jonathan Sjostrom is scheduled Wednesday to hold a hearing on the request for a temporary injunction. But in the document filed late Monday, attorneys for the Agency for Health Care Administration criticized the injunction request.
"Nothing in Florida law supports FPF's (Floridians Protecting Freedom's) attempt to make this court a referee in a fundamentally political dispute over the accuracy of AHCA's speech about Amendment 4," the state's attorneys wrote. "In any event, FPF is wrong when it accuses AHCA of 'spreading false information about the amendment.' AHCA has not made false, deceptive or misleading statements about Amendment 4."
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that overturned Roe vs. Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States.