Many Google search results for abortion services are misleading ads for anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs), according to a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
The big picture: The CCDH found that CPCs in the U.S. spent an estimated $10.2 million on Google Search ads over a two-year period, resulting in about 13 million clicks.
* The researchers identified 976 websites for anti-abortion pregnancy centers, with 188 running Google search ads between March 2021 and February 2023.
* Over 15,000 queries related to abortion were targeted by the anti-abortion pregnancy centers’ ads.
Google policy issues: The CCDH report revealed that 38% of CPCs that advertised on Google had no homepage disclaimer stating that they don’t provide abortions, appearing to violate Google’s policy.
* Google dictates that advertisers must be certified as either providing or not providing abortions to run ads on abortion-related queries in the U.S., U.K., or Ireland.
* However, there are gaps in the system, and ads targeting more general information keyword terms do not have Google’s disclosure labels.
What they’re saying: The CCDH is calling for legislators to ban misleading advertising on abortion and for Google to enforce clearer disclaimers on CPCs’ websites and search results, ensuring people seeking abortions are not misled.
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