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Google Removes Deceptive Crisis Pregnancy Center Ads

NARAL Pro-Choice America announced Monday that it has worked with Google to remove deceptive advertising by crisis pregnancy centers from Google's search engine.

NARAL Pro-Choice America announced Monday that it has worked with Google to remove deceptive advertising by crisis pregnancy centers from Google's search engine. Atelier_A / Shutterstock.com

NARAL Pro-Choice America announced Monday that it has worked with Google to remove deceptive advertising by crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) from Google’s search engine.

CPC ads by groups such as Online for Life were found to have violated Google’s policy against deceptive advertising. The ads targeted users searching for “abortion clinic” and falsely suggested that CPCs provide abortion or related health-care services.

NARAL has conducted extensive investigations of CPCs and their deceptive practices. CPCs make women with unintended pregnancies think they will receive comprehensive care, when in reality the centers provide no professional medical advice and offer medically disproven information about abortion causing breast cancer, future fertility problems, or psychological issues in order to discourage women from having an abortion.

There are some 4,000 CPCs in the United States, and their ads typically display the slogan “Pregnant? Scared? You’re not alone.” NARAL found that 80 percent of Google searches for “abortion clinic” performed in the 25 largest U.S. cities resulted in at least one crisis pregnancy center ad.

“Google’s leadership in removing the majority of these ads is a victory for truth in advertising and for the women who have been targeted by a deliberate misinformation campaign by crisis pregnancy centers,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, in a statement.