TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday continued to block Florida’s health department chief from taking further action on threaten TV stations that they are running ads for an abortion rights measure on next week’s ballot.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker extended a temporary restraining order, siding with Floridians Defending Freedom, the group that created the ads promoting the ballot question that would add abortion rights to the state constitution if passed on November 5.

Walker made the decision from the bench after hearing arguments from campaign lawyers and state officials. The order expands on an earlier order barring state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo from taking any further action to coerce or intimidate broadcasters who air the ads.

Walker said extending the temporary restraining order would give her more time to rule on the preliminary injunction the abortion rights campaign is seeking.

The group submitted the process after Ladapo and John Wilson, who was then the top attorney at the state health department before he unexpectedly resigned, sent a letter to television stations on Oct. 3 telling them to stop running a abortion rights adstating that it is false and dangerous. The letter also says the broadcasters could be prosecuted.

The ad in question features a woman named Caroline Williams, who said Florida’s current law — which bans most abortions after six weeks — would have barred her from having the procedure her doctors said was necessary to prolong her life. after she was diagnosed with terminal brain. cancer in 2022. Her providers would not continue her cancer treatment while she was still pregnant.

Walker’s ruling on Tuesday expands an Oct. 18 order that prohibits state officials from “infringing” on the free speech rights of those with whom they disagree.

“The government cannot excuse indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring that the disfavored speech is ‘false,'” the judge said in the earlier order.

He added, “To put it simply for the state of Florida: It’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

Tuesday’s hearing is the latest development in an ongoing battle between abortion rights advocates and officials in Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, which has had its own state-funded campaign to block the vote measure.

If approved by 60 percent of Florida voters, the constitutional amendment would protect the right to abortion up to fetal viability, considered to be beyond 20 weeks. The measure would override the state’s current law, which bans most abortions after six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.

In the weeks leading up to the election, DeSantis held campaign-style, taxpayer-funded rallies with doctors and religious leaders to advocate against the proposed amendment. Four state agencies have set aside millions of dollars in public funds to create their own ads touting the abortion measure and another proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana use in the state — a move critics say that it violates a state law that prohibits government officials. to use his public office for electoral activities.

___ Kate Payne is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.