FCC Chair: Florida Government’s Threat To Stations For Airing Abortion Ad Undermines Free Speech

The chairwoman of the FCC is condemning Florida state health officials following a report that they have sent a cease and desist letter to a local station over its airing of a pro-abortion rights ad.

“The right of broadcasters to speak freely is rooted in the First Amendment,” FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech.”

Florida Politics reported that the state’s Department of Health had sent a letter to stations over the airing of ads for the state’s Amendment 4, which would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution.

In one of the ads, a woman who was diagnosed with brain cancer while she was pregnant with her second child says that “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 has now banned abortion even in cases like mine.”

John Wilson, general counsel for the Department of Health, wrote in a letter to stations claiming that the ad was false, disputing its claim that the law does not allow for abortions to save the life of a mother.

“The advertisement is not only false; it is dangerous,” he wrote. “Women faced with pregnancy complications posing a serious risk of death or substantial and irreversible physical impairment may and should seek medical treatment in Florida.”

Wilson warned that state law allowed the department to initiate civil and even criminal proceedings against a station if it continued to run the spots. He cited a statute in which acts that threaten or impair the lives of individuals can be regarded as a “sanitary nuisance.”

The political group advocating for the abortion amendment, Floridians Protecting Freedom, defended the ad and has been urging stations to keep it on the air, per Florida Politics. The group called the letter “a flagrant abuse of power,” while defending the accuracy of the spot.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Health did not return a request for comment.