Google results for abortion clinics are misleading and politically fraught - The Verge
Google Maps is repeatedly pointing users to crisis pregnancy centers when they search for a nearby abortion clinic. A report from Bloomberg found that CPCs made up one-fourth of the top 10 Maps results on average in all 50 states.
Google Maps continues to show results for anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) when users search for a nearby abortion clinic. A new analysis from Bloomberg shows that CPCs make up about a fourth of the top 10 search results on average in all 50 states and Washington, DC.
Unlike legitimate abortion clinics, CPCs don’t actually provide abortions. They instead attempt to dissuade people from going through with the procedure and often use misinformation to make their case. For example, CPCs may falsely claim that receiving an abortion will put someone at a higher risk for breast cancer or may say it makes it harder to get pregnant in the future.
A separate report from The Guardian cites data from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which indicates that one in 10 Google searches for abortion clinics showed results for CPCs in the 13 states where abortion access has become limited after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
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