The Shadow
WASHINGTON (VR) – On August 25, 2022, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) welcomed an announcement from Google that it will make changes to its search results to clearly label facilities that provide abortions so that users seeking abortions are not misled by anti-abortion fake clinics or crisis pregnancy centers. August 25’s action follows a bicameral June 17 letter led by Warner and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) to the CEO of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, Sundar Pichai, urging him to take action to prevent misleading Google search results and ads that lead to anti-abortion clinics.
In response to Warner and Slotkin’s letter, Google announced that those who search for “abortion clinics near me” will only see facilities that have been verified to provide abortions in the Local Search results box on Google, unless they affirmatively choose to see additional, potentially less relevant results. Additionally, Google will clearly label results for searches such as “abortion clinics” to indicate whether the facility provides abortions.
“I welcome the changes that Google has announced today so that women seeking abortion services aren’t directed towards fake clinics that traffic in misinformation and don’t provide comprehensive health services. Importantly, this isn’t about silencing voices or restricting speech – it’s about returning search results that accurately address a user’s query and giving users information that is relevant to their searches,” said Sen. Warner on August 25, 2022.
