Citing a policy violation, Google announced that it is removing some web search ads for crisis pregnancy centers, the Washington Post reports. The removal is the result of an investigation by NARAL Pro-Choice America, a pro-abortion organization with a vested interest in Google searchers not finding pregnancy centers.
In a seeming effort to deflect censorship accusations, NARAL claims that it is not actually opposed to ads for crisis pregnancy centers, but says that the ads are misleading and say many centers provide abortions. According to the report:
According to an analysis by NARAL, 79 percent of the crisis pregnancy centers that advertised on Google indicated that they provided medical services such as abortions, when, in fact, they are focused on counseling services and on providing information about alternatives to abortion.
The NARAL investigation said that “the crisis pregnancy centers intentionally used false and misleading language on ads that appeared when users searched for ‘abortion clinic.’”
The rationale by Google is that these ads violate their policy because “Google policy states that advertisements must be ‘factually supportable,’ as well as truthful and accurate. Advertisers who do not comply with Google policies may see their ads rejected or their domains disabled or accounts suspended.”
A simple Google search of abortion clinics in major cities reveals actual abortion clinics coming up, but it also shows crisis pregnancy centers, which do comment that they will help women with their options, which is exactly what abortion clinics claim. And that’s the real irony of this tragic decision: that it is not at all different from all the abortion clinics listed on Google that pretend they don’t only want women to kill their babies, but rather to explore her options. Most look like this one from Planned Parenthood. Have a look at what it says:
Family planning clinics, like your local Planned Parenthood health center, have specially trained staff who can talk with you about all of your options. But beware of so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’. These are fake clinics run by people who are anti-abortion. They often don’t give women all their options. They have a history of scaring women into not having abortions. Absolutely no one should pressure you or trick you into making a decision you’re not comfortable with.
This propaganda is then followed by a slew of material denouncing all crisis pregnancy centers as a hidden societal evil. In fact, this is how most abortion facilities get women in the door. Their own advertising leads women to think they are going to discover true options – and they leave feeling that abortion is the only option. Take for example this story, which reminds us that the objective of these “parenthood” clinics is actually anti-parenthood.
Google’s move is a one-sided decision that takes a blanket approach to one part of the debate and coddles the other. Now NARAL says it is going to appeal to other search engines to do the same thing.
Perhaps most ironic of all is what Illyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, says:
We’re pleased with Google’s leadership. People depend on their search engines to provide them with accurate information… We’re hoping other actors will follow suit.
Of course NARAL is pleased with leadership that allows its deceptive ways to be furthered. While NARAL is petitioning other search engines to remove pro-life ads for being deceptively against abortion, perhaps pro-lifers should conduct their own investigation of abortion clinics’ advertisements and report those findings to Google and other search engines.
In the olden days, this accusation from NARAL would be labeled as the pot calling the kettle black. Only the abortion industry’s pot is red with the blood of unborn babies and green with the money it makes from them. No wonder it wants the ads removed.
