A former lawyer for the Florida Department of Health is pointing the finger at Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration for threatening TV stations airing advertisements supporting abortion rights.

Last week, John Wilson, then General Counsel for the Florida Department of Health, abruptly resigned from his position after issuing cease and desist letters threatening prosecution to various television stations airing ads in support of Amendment 4, a ballot measure that — if passed — would enshrine in the state’s constitution the right to abortion care before fetal viability. The amendment would effectively repeal the state’s stringent six-week abortion ban, which has wreaked havoc on health care providers and patients since its enforcement.

“A man is nothing without his conscience,” Wilson wrote in a resignation letter obtained by the Miami Herald, “It has become clear in recent days that I cannot join you on the road that lies before the agency.”

But Wilson is going a step further than a resignation, attesting in an affidavit unsealed on Monday that while his office was responsible for sending the letters, the directive came directly from DeSantis’ office.

“I did not draft the letters or participate in any discussions about the letters prior to October 3, 2024,” Wilson said. “Ryan Newman, General Counsel for the Executive Office of the Governor, and Jed Doty, Deputy General Counsel for the Executive Office of the Governor, directed me to send them under my name and on the behalf of the Florida Department of Health.”

“I resigned from my position as General Counsel in lieu of complying with directives from Newman and Doty to send out further correspondence to the media outlets, similar to the October 3, 2024 letters,” he added.

As previously reported by Rolling Stone, the DeSantis administration has been running a brazen campaign to tank Amendment 4 ahead of Election Day. The state government managed to add language to the ballot measure — a supposed “financial impact statement” — warning that an increase in the availability of abortion care “may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time.” The state has harassed individuals who participated in the signature campaign required to place the amendment on the ballot, and launched a website attacking the measure as a threat to women’s safety.

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Wilson’s affidavit was produced in relation to a lawsuit brought by Floridians Protecting Freedom — the pro-reproductive freedom group behind the ads — against State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Wilson. Last week, the DeSantis administration was sharply reprimanded by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, who ruled in favor of Floridians Protecting Freedom, and blocked the government’s efforts to have the ads removed from broadcasts.

“To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid,” Walker wrote.