A significant scandal has emerged in Florida as John Wilson, the former general counsel for the Florida Department of Health, disclosed troubling actions taken by officials in Governor Ron DeSantis’s office. In a sworn affidavit, Wilson claims he was pressured to send threatening letters to television stations, coercing them to remove advertisements supporting a crucial abortion rights measure.
Wilson, who resigned from his position on October 10, detailed in his affidavit that he received prewritten letters on October 3 from Sam Elliot, an assistant general counsel in the governor’s executive office. He was instructed to send these letters on behalf of the Department of Health by other officials, including Ryan Newman and Jed Jody, the Miami Herald reports.
These letters targeted political advertisements promoting Amendment 4, a proposed ballot measure aimed at expanding abortion access in Florida. If passed, this measure would effectively overturn a restrictive six-week abortion ban currently in place. It requires 60 percent voter approval to be enacted.
In his resignation letter, Wilson emphasized the moral conflict he faced, stating, “A man is nothing without his conscience. It has become clear in recent days that I cannot join you on the road that lies before the agency.”
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Following these events, Wilson and Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, are now facing a lawsuit from the group Floridians Protecting Freedom, which sponsors Amendment 4. The lawsuit claims that the threatening letters infringed upon the First Amendment rights of the group.
The advertisements in question feature Caroline Williams, a woman diagnosed with brain cancer while pregnant, who opted for an abortion to receive life-saving treatment. The ad asserts that the current abortion ban would have prohibited her from making that choice.
In response to the campaign, the Florida Department of Health previously declared the ad’s claims false, warning TV stations that they violated state “sanitary nuisance laws.”
Campaign director Lauren Brenzel criticized the government’s actions, calling them “unconstitutional government interference.” She asserted, “The State cannot coerce television stations into removing political speech from the airwaves in an attempt to keep their abortion ban in place. We will continue our campaign in the face of this blatant government interference, but we must remain focused.”
The DeSantis office decline a request for comment.
