The group behind Florida’s abortion-rights initiative, Amendment 4, is suing a state health care agency, alleging that an agency media campaign against “fear mongers” is actually an illegal, taxpayer-funded political operation to torpedo the initiative.
Floridians Protecting Freedom Inc. filed the lawsuit Sept. 12 in the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County against the state Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). The plaintiff, which is represented by the ACLU of Florida and Southern Legal Counsel, is seeking to block the AHCA’s statements about Amendment 4.
“The state’s materials misrepresent what the amendment would do, make allegations that are explicitly refuted by the language of the amendment itself, and mislead through both inaccurate statements and through omission of countervailing information,” the lawsuit states. “Such actions violate the political power that has been constitutionally reserved to the people, and therefore should be enjoined.”
The complaint focuses on FloridaHealthFinder.gov, which contains statements that the amendment is deceptive even though the state Supreme Court concluded “the ballot title and summary fairly inform voters, in clear and unambiguous language, of the chief purpose of the amendment and they are not misleading.”
The website indicates that abortion in the state is broadly available, saying that about 83,000 abortions are performed per year. But the complaint argues the statement is misleading because it predates the state’s six-week abortion restriction.
“AHCA’s urging of voters to oppose an amendment proposed by its citizens through such a misinformation campaign violates the Florida Constitution and unlawfully interferes with the right of Floridians to propose amendments through the ballot initiative process in an attempt to prevent voters from having a say in overturning Florida’s extreme abortion ban,” the ACLU of Florida said in a news release.
Neither the AHCA nor other Florida government officials responded to requests for comment about the lawsuit. The agency’s secretary, Jason Weida, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the new website aimed to correct distortions about the state’s abortion laws.
The campaign director for the Yes on 4 campaign told the Florida Record in an email that the measure was placed on the Nov. 5 ballot by a bipartisan group of nearly 1 million Floridians who oppose allowing politicians to make personal health care decisions.
“Florida's government fears the will of the people, and now on top of trying to trick voters with a deceptive ballot summary, the AHCA, in a borderline illegal tactic, launched a state-sponsored and taxpayer-funded political ad – disguised as a website,” Lauren Brenzel said in the statement. “This is all a distraction from what’s really at stake – women are dying and going without critical care every day in our state – that’s what we should be focused on instead of this political trickery.”
Amendment 4 represents the only way Florida voters can end the current abortion restriction, she said.
Floridians Protecting Freedom is asking the court to find that the agency’s actions violate the right of Floridians to propose amendments to the constitution, to order the removal of information that is deemed misleading or political and to enjoin the agency from spending funds in the future on messages about Amendment 4 that amount to election interference.
“Florida’s government has crossed a dangerous line by using public resources to mislead voters and manipulate their choices in the upcoming election,” Michelle Morton, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida, said in a prepared statement. “The state cannot justify its current abortion ban and its dire impacts on Florida’s voters, so instead it is attempting to undermine the political power of the people enshrined in Florida’s Constitution.”
The AHCA is Florida’s main health-care policy and planning agency. It also administers the state’s Medicaid program and other programs.
Currently, Florida bars abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, though it provides several exceptions. Amendment 4 would overturn that restriction and prohibit laws or penalties restricting abortion before viability – or when the procedure is needed to protect a patient’s health.