'Comically unconstitutional': Analyst shreds Ron DeSantis' threat to criminalize speech

Ron DeSantis' latest bid to try to suppress the ballot referendum campaign to restore abortion rights in his state is "comically unconstitutional," a legal reporter wrote for Slate. But DeSantis has now escalated dramatically, with his Department of Health threatening in a letter to prosecute TV stations that air ads in favor of the amendment for "sanitary nuisance" — a law intended to apply to physical pollution hazards like improperly sealed septic tanks, which would subject employees of the TV stations to up to 60 days in jail. "The agency claims that the The Department asserted that the ad, which featured a woman named Caroline who needed an abortion to get chemotherapy for a life-threatening brain tumor, was false because the state's ban allows abortions for “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.” In practice, doctors are afraid to make exceptions under the threat of a five-year prison sentence, so even women who qualify can struggle to get treatment. Even former President Donald Trump himself has remarked that DeSantis' six-week ban, which applies before most women even know they're pregnant, is "too short" — although he also said he would vote against Amendment 4, falsely claiming that it would allow the execution of babies after birth.