Florida sends doctors ‘provider alert’ pushing back on Amendment 4 ad

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — As voters get closer to the November election, the battle over Amendment 4 is getting more heated.

Now, there’s a dispute over which side is spreading false information.

This week, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration sent a memo to providers. The state called it a “provider alert.” It states, under Florida law, treatments including abortion, are allowed at any point in the pregnancy to save a mother’s life. It also mentions other exceptions exist up to 15 weeks for victims of rape, incest, or human trafficking.

Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind Amendment 4, released the ad which mentions a doctor from Sarasota discussing what Florida’s abortion law means to him.

“The ban forces women to wait until the brink of death to get care and could send doctors, like me to prison, just for treating my patients,” Dr. Jerry Goodman said.

Monday, during a news conference in Orlando, Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed back on the ad.

“They’re running commercials that are totally lies saying there are no exceptions just that there’s normal healthcare,” DeSantis said.

The governor has been outspoken and leading an effort to get Amendment 4 to fail.

“This whole thing is not what it seems,” DeSantis said. “This is all built on deception.”

The governor is also leaning on AHCA to help fight back against Amendment 4. The ACLU of Florida recently filed a lawsuit, on behalf of Floridians Protecting Freedom, against the agency — claiming taxpayer dollars are being used to spread misinformation about the amendment.

ACLU Communications Strategist Keisha Mulfort said Florida’s abortion law is still too vague and too extreme.

“Florida politicians have banned abortions before many women even realize they’re pregnant and no real exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the woman,” Mulfort Said.

The executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates released a statement that said in part:

As health care providers in Florida, Planned Parenthood affiliates are witnessing firsthand the devastating consequences of the state’s abortion ban. Women with nonviable pregnancies are being turned away by hospitals and private clinics and denied essential miscarriage management. These are real cases impacting real Floridians caused by the chilling effect the state’s extreme abortion ban has on the medical community.

“The law is dangerously unclear when a patient arrives at our health centers with multiple ultrasounds, each confirming a nonviable pregnancy, yet other providers repeatedly deny them care. We’ve had cases of survivors of rape left with no option but to travel out of state for abortion care because they cannot meet the restrictive documentation requirements for exceptions. This so-called exception is failing those it is supposed to protect.

Political Expert Tara Newsom describes the level of state involvement against a citizen-led initiative as unprecedented.

“It really smacks of abuse of resources, and it also creates a chilling effect on providers,” Newsom said. “The tenor, not only coming from the state. But the tenor that they were sort of shaming providers to make sure they follow the law the way it is.”

Amendment 4 needs 60% support to pass.

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