Google ‘Abortion Clinic’ Search Results Are Misleading

Back in 2014, NARAL Pro-Choice America reported that when people searched for “abortion clinics” using Google, ads for  anti-choice centers would show up “79% of the time.” Unfortunately, this deception persists to this day. Many women’s health and reproductive health advocacy organizations decided to join together and make a statement to Google.

On Wednesday, UltraViolet, a leading women’s advocacy organization, organized a plane banner to fly over Google’s annual shareholder meeting demanding that the tech giant remove its fake, anti-abortion clinic results in Google Search and Google Maps, as well as advertisements, that show up when individuals search for abortion care. The banner read, “SEARCHING FOR ABORTION CARE? GOOGLE LIES.”

In addition to the banner, UltraViolet organized a letter signed by 20 organizations who advocate for better access to reproductive health care and abortion, to be sent to Google’s CEO, imploring him to take immediate steps to correct misleading Google ads that lure millions of women searching for health care clinics to sham clinics that provide inaccurate medical care.  Check out the other organizations and the letter here.

“Let’s call crisis pregnancy centers what they really are: sham abortion clinics that push an extremist, anti-choice agenda onto millions of innocent women who seek out reproductive health care every day via Google’s search engines,” said Shaunna Thomas, Executive Director of UltraViolet.

The plane banner and letter come as the Supreme Court is set to release a decision this month in NIFLA v. Becerra. The case concerns a 2015 California law that requires so-called ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’ (CPCs)—sham medical facilities that provide counseling meant to discourage women from having abortions—in the state to notify patients whether they actually have a medical license. Oftentimes open and advertising near legitimate women’s health clinics to trick women, fake clinics lure women into their centers to manipulate and/or harass them out of getting an abortion. Fake clinic staff pose as medical professionals and tell women medically disproven lies, like false claims that abortion leads to mental illness, infertility, and breast cancer.

Earlier this month during the Google I/O developer festival, activists with UltraViolet, and CREDO, a progressive advocacy organization, held a protest and delivered a petition with over 100,000 signatures, demanding the tech company remove its CPC Search ads and Map results. The groups also held a massive light projection later that evening near the festival in Mountain View. The light projection read: “Google, stop lying to women. No to fake, anti-abortion clinics.”