Women’s Group Slams Google for Giving $150,000 in Free Ads to Deceptive Anti-Abortion Group
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 13, 2019
CONTACT: Brett Abrams | brett@unbendablemedia.com
Women’s Group Slams Google for Giving $150,000 in Free Ads to Deceptive Anti-Abortion Group
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Today, The Guardian reported that “Google has given tens of thousands of dollars in free advertising to an anti-abortion group that runs ads suggesting it provides abortion services at its medical clinics, but actually seeks to deter ‘abortion-minded women’ from terminating their pregnancies.”
According to The Guardian, “the Obria Group, which runs a network of clinics funded by Catholic organisations, received a $120,000 Google advertising grant in 2015, according to a public filing. In 2011, it received nearly $32,000. Such grants are designed to support and expand the reach of non-profits around the world.”
Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet, a leading national women’s group that has called on Google to remove fake, anti-abortion clinic results from Google Search and Google Maps results, as well as advertisements, that show up when individuals search for abortion care, explained:
“Let’s call the Obria Group and organizations like them what they really are: fake health clinics that push an extremist, anti-choice agenda onto millions of innocent women who seek out reproductive health care every day via Google’s search engines and ads. These groups intentionally deceive, manipulate, and coerce vulnerable women, delaying access to the healthcare they need and deserve. Reports that Google has given them more than $150,000 in free advertising to continue to lure even more vulnerable women into their facilities is nothing short of horrifying and massive breach of consumer trust.
“Google must immediately put an end to its financial support of sham abortion clinics like Obria Group. The search engine giant should also go a step further and directly address the fraudulent tactics of crisis pregnancy centers and their entrapment of women, and scrub its search engine of their advertisements.
“Abortion care is health care, and Google must ensure its abortion ads and results are accurate.”
Last year, UltraViolet organized a letter signed by 20 organizations who advocate for better access to reproductive health care and abortion to be sent to Google’s CEO, imploring the tech giant to take immediate steps to correct misleading Google ads that lure millions of women searching for health care clinics to sham clinics that provide inaccurate medical care.
Organizations who have signed onto the letter include: Advocates For Youth, Black Women’s Health Imperative, Broward County NOW, CREDO Action, Feminist Majority Foundation, Hadassah, MoveOn.org, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Abortion Federation, National Institute for Reproductive Health, National Women’s Health Network, National Women’s Law Center, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood, Pro Choice Coalition of Broward, Progress Florida, ReproAction, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US (SIECUS), UltraViolet, and URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity.
SEE THE LETTER HERE: https://d2486uwqr5x79k.cloudfront.net/images/Letter_to_Google_regarding_crisis_pregnancy_center_ads_FINAL.pdf
UltraViolet’s petition calling for Google to remove CPC ads from its search engine has garnered over 35,000 signatures.
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