DeSantis deploys government resources to fight Florida abortion amendment
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida Republican leaders have repeatedly tapped into taxpayer-funded resources to fight a November ballot initiative that would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban.
Their repeated efforts — from a state-run website attacking the amendment to election police questioning signers of the petition to get the measure on the ballot — have drawn them into a protracted legal fight with the campaign behind the initiative, which will appear before voters as Amendment 4.
It is an escalation of government overreach, amendment supporters say, as part of an all-out effort by Republicans to protect the six-week abortion ban that DeSantis signed into law while he was preparing to run for president. They charge that the state government is violating the law — while DeSantis and his allies strenuously defend their actions as merely educating the public and protecting Floridians.
“What we are witnessing is a disturbing pattern of government interference — not only in women’s healthcare but also in the very democratic process itself,” ACLU of Florida spokesperson Keisha Mulfort wrote in an email. “This authoritarian overreach is deeply dangerous and has real, life-threatening consequences for women across Florida.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/20/desantis-florida-abortion-amendment-government-resources-00180054
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