TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A political committee behind the campaign to pass a constitutional right to abortion in Florida has filed a lawsuit against a state health care agency that it alleges is carrying out a taxpayer-funded “misinformation” campaign against the November ballot measure.
Critics say the state-backed messaging push is the latest “dirty trick” by Republican officials in Florida to thwart the citizen-led initiative to protect abortion in the country’s third-largest state. Nearly a million Floridians signed petitions to get the measure known as Amendment 4 on the ballot, surpassing the more than 891,500 signatures required by the state.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed the lawsuit in a Leon County circuit court on Thursday on behalf of Floridians Protecting Freedom, Inc., the organization behind Amendment 4.
The lawsuit targets a website, television and radio ads created by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration to give Floridians “the truth” about the proposed constitutional amendment. If approved by at least 60% of Florida voters, Amendment 4 would make abortions legal until the fetus is viable, as determined by the patient’s health care provider.