Fight intensifies over Florida ballot measure that would guarantee abortion rights up until fetal viability

In just one week, voters in Florida will head to the polls to decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in the Florida constitution, through a ballot measure that Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration have spent months fighting in the courts.

If passed, Amendment 4 -- officially titled "The Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion" -- would block any law from restricting an abortion before fetal viability, which is typically around 24 weeks, according to experts. The amendment would repeal the state's current six-week abortion ban that was signed into law after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

Florida is one of 10 states that will have reproductive rights-related questions on the ballot, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade left the issue up to the states.

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that 46% of those Floridians polled support the measure, while 38% are against it, with 16% refusing to answer or saying they don't know. To pass on Nov. 5, the ballot measure will require the approval of 60% of those casting votes.

The governor and his allies have been waging an intense campaign against the ballot initiative.

"When you're dealing with constitutional amendments, your default should always be no," DeSantis said at a press conference last week, where he was joined by a dozen doctors. "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."

Earlier this month, the Florida Department of Health sent letters to television stations across the state -- including ABC-affiliated stations -- asking them not to air an ad supporting the ballot initiative and threatening criminal charges against broadcasters that did not comply. The ad featured a Florida mother describing how she was diagnosed with brain cancer two years ago, when she was 20 weeks pregnant.

"The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom," Florida resident Caroline Williams said in the ad, saying that she believes she would be dead if she had been diagnosed under the sate's current six-week abortion ban, which went into effect earlier this year.

After Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the ballot initiative, sued the state for threatening "criminal proceedings" against the broadcast stations, a federal judge issued a restraining order against Florida's surgeon general, prohibiting the Department of Health from threatening the stations.

"To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it's the First Amendment, stupid," U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote in the ruling.

John Wilson, the Department of Health attorney who signed the letters to the television stations, resigned two weeks ago, stating in a signed affidavit that attorneys for DeSantis wrote the letters and directed him to send them under his name.

"I resigned from my position as General Counsel in lieu of complying with directives ... to send out further correspondence to the media outlets," Wilson said in the affidavit. "The right of broadcasters to speak freely is rooted in the First Amendment. Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government's views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech."

Critics of DeSantis say the letter threatening broadcasters may not have been his administration's only attempt at intimidation.

Last month, two Florida residents reported that law enforcement from the Office of Election Crimes & Security, a unit created by DeSantis in 2022, knocked on their doors and asked them about petitions they had signed to get the amendment on the November ballot, the Miami Herald reported.

"I had indeed signed a petition seeking to have the right to an abortion placed on the ballot in Florida," Isaac Menasche, one of the residents, said in a Facebook post. "The experience left me shaken. What troubled me was [the officer] had a folder on me containing my personal information."

DeSantis defended the actions by the Election Crimes unit, saying at a press conference last month that there were "a lot of complaints" about one group that was supporting Amendment 4.

"They're doing what they're supposed to do," DeSantis said of the Elections Crimes unit. "They're following the law."

The Election Crimes unit also released a report last month alleging that Floridians Protecting Freedom committed petition fraud to reach the 891,523 signatures needed to place the amendment on the ballot. The group has denied any wrongdoing.

"These lawsuits, coming on the heels of the State of Florida's latest attempt to undermine Floridians' right to vote on Amendment 4, are desperate," said Lauren Brenzel, director of the "Yes on 4" campaign supporting the amendment. "Ask yourself, why is this happening now -- over half a year after over 997,000 petitions were verified by the state of Florida and with less than a month until the election -- that these anti-abortion extremists want to relitigate the petition-collection process?"

"It's because our campaign is winning and the government and its extremist allies are trying to do everything they can to stop Floridians from having the rights they deserve," Brenzel said.