(PresidentialWire.com)- Some Democratic members of Congress are calling on big tech giant Google to investigate ads and search results that are tied to what they’re calling “anti-abortion ‘fake clinics.'”
A recent report showed this situation was prevalent in 13 states that have “trigger laws” that would severely restrict or outright ban abortions within their borders should the Supreme Court eventually overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Eight Democratic members of the House and 13 in the Senate sent a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. In it, they highlighted the report conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which said that searches for “abortion pill” or “abortion clinic near me” produced results that showed clinics that didn’t provide any of those services 11% of the time.
The CCDH report said those clinics are referred to as what are called “crisis pregnancy centers” or “pregnancy resource centers.” Typically speaking, those types of centers try to convince people not to get an abortion, urging them instead to keep the baby and raise it or put it up for adoption.
As the members of Congress wrote in their letter:
“This problem is even more pronounced on Google Maps, where CCDH found that 37% of search results were for anti-abortion fake clinics. Google should not be displaying anti-abortion fake clinics or crisis pregnancy centers in search results for users that are searching for an ‘abortion clinic’ or ‘abortion pill.’
“If Google must continue showing these misleading results in search results and Google Maps, the results should, at the very least, be appropriately labeled.”
The lawmakers were apparently quick to note that the ads that displayed those types of clinics were labeled properly. They tried to tell Pinchai, though, that the disclaimers could easily be looked over. They also complained the disclaimers didn’t apply to Google search results if they weren’t sponsored.
The letter asked Pinchai what steps Google would end up taking that would work to reduce the amount of search results that produced the fake clinics, and whether they’d start labeling the results if they had to appear.
Democrats are apparently doing all they can to steer the narrative around abortion, as the Supreme Court will soon announce its decision on whether it will essentially overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
The case before the high court revolves around a ban on abortions in Mississippi after 15 weeks of pregnancy. A draft of the majority opinion was leaked in early May, which showed that the conservative justices were ready to overturn the Roe decision and rule in favor of Mississippi.
Nothing is official until the ruling is handed down, though, so things could change before then. Following the leak of that draft opinion, Democrats have been trying to convince American voters that the only way to protect women’s right to abortion is to vote for their party in the upcoming midterm elections and the presidential election in 2024.
And, in the meantime, they want Google to customize the search results for people looking for information on abortion clinics near them.
