{"id":318543,"date":"2024-09-12T08:48:12","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T13:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=318543"},"modified":"2024-09-12T13:20:58","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T18:20:58","slug":"florida-state-health-agency-sued-abortion-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-state-health-agency-sued-abortion-ballot\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida state health agency sued after publicly opposing pro-abortion ballot measure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), an agency in charge of running the state’s Medicaid program, has come out in opposition of Amendment 4, the ballot measure that would enshrine a “right” to abortion in the state constitution. Now, the state’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case<\/a> alleging that in putting out the AHCA message, the administration of Governor Ron DeSantis improperly used its power to advocate against the amendment.<\/p>\n

The announcement was seen<\/a> on an AHCA website<\/a>, which reportedly read “Don’t let the fearmongers\u00a0lie to you<\/u>” in a banner ad on top of the webpage. The message then said that Amendment 4 “threatens women’s safety.” At the bottom of the page, it said, “We must keep Florida from becoming an abortion tourism destination state.” The message appeared to be removed from the site at the time of this writing.<\/p>\n

Sen. Minority Leader Lauren Book claimed the message violated state law, prompting the Democratic party to look into \u201cappropriate legal action.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis anti-Amendment 4 website from AHCA is bull****,” Florida Democrats said in a statement<\/a>. “Ron [DeSantis] and his buddies know they\u2019re losing, and they\u2019re willing to do anything \u2014 including breaking the law \u2014 to rig the results in their favor. Using state agency resources for campaign purposes is illegal, and we\u2019re looking into any and all recourse to take this website down.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Liberty Counsel<\/a>, the group promoting Amendment 4 was itself caught “promoting dangerous and deceptive advice to minors” on its website, which is not operated by the state:<\/p>\n

The \u201cYes on 4\u201d campaign, run by Amendment 4\u2019s sponsor Floridians Protecting Freedom, Inc., had included on its \u201cinformation and resources\u201d page a link to another pro-abortion group<\/a> explaining how minors could get a judicial bypass for an abortion without parental consent. Florida is one of many states that allow a judicial bypass where judges can approve abortions for minors who want to avoid telling their parents. <\/em><\/p>\n

The page encourages minors to step out from under the state\u2019s protections and advises them on how to get a no-cost lawyer to go before a judge and get permission for an abortion all while keeping parents in the dark….<\/em><\/p>\n

The site belongs to Floridians for Reproductive Freedom, which also offers minors a chatbot named \u201cCharley\u201d that will help them \u201cget or manage an abortion.\u201d According to the Vote No on 4 campaign, a minor interacting with this \u201canonymous\u201d chatbot will not be asked to verify their age and \u201ccan receive dubious and even dangerous advice on abortion.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe chatbot falsely claims that \u2018abortion is medically safe no matter how far along someone is in their pregnancy,\u2019\u201d stated<\/a> Vote No on 4 in its news release.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n