WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – A group of over 20 Senate and House Democrats wrote a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai asking the tech giant to remove crisis pregnancy centers from search results for abortion clinics and abortion pills. The letter follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into a series of attacks carried out against crisis pregnancy centers perpetrated by radical pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge.
The letter, sent Friday, states that Google must exclude “fake clinics” from search results. “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,’” the letter states. “If Google must continue showing these misleading results in search results and Google Maps, the results should, at the very least, be appropriately labelled.”
The two chief signatories of the letter are Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. Other signatories include Senators Elizabeth Warren, Dianne Feinstein, and Bernie Sanders.
In a tweet posted Friday, Warner said that Google should “crack down on manipulative search results that lead to scammy crisis pregnancy centers.”
NEW: @RepSlotkin and I are leading a group of lawmakers to push on the Google CEO to crack down on manipulative search results that lead to scammy “crisis pregnancy centers.”
It’s time for them to limit or label results and ads that lead to fake abortion clinics. pic.twitter.com/LlkTueI2QP
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) June 17, 2022
“It’s time for them to limit or label results and ads that lead to fake abortion clinics,” Warner concluded.
The letter cites a recent study conducted by the Center for Combating Digital Hate, a left-wing London-based group that seeks to “target accused ‘hate groups’ and individuals for de-platforming campaigns to remove them from major social media outlets,” according to Influence Watch.
The study found that 1 in 10 search results for abortion clinics or pills in states with pro-life “trigger laws” lead to crisis pregnancy centers. The study also found that 11% of search results in 13 Republican-led states lead to crisis pregnancy centers, and that 38% of Google Maps results lead to crisis pregnancy centers. The study also stated that 28% of Google ads displayed at the top of search result pages for abortion clinics advertised crisis pregnancy centers.
RELATED: Minnesota pregnancy center vandalized by Jane’s Revenge in latest act of pro-abortion violence
When asked for comment by The Independent, Google directed the outlet to a statement released last month. “Across our products, we work to make high-quality information easily accessible, particularly on critical health topics,” the statement read.
“Any organization that wants to advertise to people seeking information about abortion services on Google must be certified and show in-ad disclosures that clearly state whether they do or do not offer abortions. We’re always looking at ways to improve our results to help people find what they’re looking for, or understand if what they’re looking for may not be available.”
Google has a history of suppressing pro-life content. In 2020, Alison Centofante of Live Action spoke to LifeSite about tech censorship carried out by companies like Twitter and Google. “[Google owned] YouTube has on multiple times mysteriously removed our videos without reinstalling them until there’s massive public backlash,” she said.
YouTube also removed video of a Heritage Foundation summit held in June 2020 that featured an ex-“transgender” discussing gender dysphoria, claiming the video violated the platform’s hate speech policy.
The letter also follows a series of attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches in the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health which would overturn Roe v. Wade, ending legal abortion on the federal level in the United States after almost 50 years.
The FBI announced Thursday that it is investigating a series of attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and churches. Last week, a crisis pregnancy center in Oregon was firebombed by pro-abortion activists. The attack was followed by a similar attack against a pro-life Republican state representative’s office in Washington state.
The radical pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge has taken responsibility for several of the attacks against crisis pregnancy centers that have occurred since the leaked opinion. The group recently promised to increase attacks against pro-life groups, declaring that it is “open season” on pro-lifers and pro-life centers.