Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has defended police visiting the homes of Floridians who signed the petition. Critics say the investigation is a brazen attempt to intimidate voters in the country’s third-largest state from protecting access to abortion — and that the probe comes long after a deadline to challenge petition signatures has passed.

Florida’s governor has come under fire from critics who say he is using state resources to work against a proposed abortion-rights amendment to the state Constitution.

The Florida state health care regulator has campaigned against it, which DeSantis defends as informing the public.

DeSantis deploys state funds to keep his six-week abortion ban, as Florida patients are denied cancer treatments and care to end ectopic pregnancies