Florida sued for using taxpayer money on website promoting GOP spin on abortion initiative

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.

The website launched this month states that “Amendment 4 threatens women’s safety" and defends Florida’s current law, which bans most abortions after six weeks, under a banner that reads “Florida is Protecting Life” and “Don’t let the fearmongers lie to you.”

In the legal filing, attorneys for the abortion rights campaign called on the court to immediately halt the messaging push and what they argue is the unlawful use of taxpayer funds by state officials in service of a political campaign, actions which they claim are infringing on the rights of Florida