Saturday, October 19, 2024

This is where the authoritarians and dictators go

And it's only the beginning for them.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker of the Northern District of Florida granted a temporary restraining order against Florida’s surgeon general after the state health department threatened to bring criminal charges against broadcasters airing [a pro-abortion rights television] ad.

The controversy stems from a campaign ad by the group Floridians Protecting Freedom, which is behind the “Yes on 4 Campaign,” promoting a ballot measure that seeks to overturn Florida’s six-week abortion ban by enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.

In the 30-second ad, a brain cancer survivor named Caroline says the state law would have prevented her from receiving a life-saving abortion.

“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,” she says on camera. “Florida has now banned abortions, even in cases like mine.”

[...]

The judge’s order, which is valid through October 29, effectively bars Ladapo from intimidating local stations for airing the Amendment 4 ad.

Walker’s granting of the restraining order comes less than a week after [John Wilson, the health department’s general counsel,] resigned from his post. In a letter obtained by the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald, Wilson wrote that “a man is nothing without his conscience,” adding that “it has become clear in recent days that I cannot join you on the road that lies before the agency.”

   CNN
Good on John Wilson.

UPDATE 10/21/2024:




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