How Google is slowing down access to abortion in the US

The scene takes place in the United States, in the city of Atlanta, one January morning. A young, low-income woman turns to Google to find an abortion clinic near her home. She accumulates several half times and does not earn enough to be able to have a child she does not want. In the state of Georgia, where she lives, the legal deadline for an abortion is six weeks. It’s a real race against time. Just here: This morning, the ads that are presented to you when you type your request for you into the search bar are actually fake ads for abortion clinics. She doesn’t know it, she goes out of her way to fix an appointment between her three jobs, she travels for free … And she postpones the moment of the care she needs so much, with the risk of finding herself out of time. .

Does this scenario seem outrageous to you? Yet it’s real, according to a study released this week by the Tech Transparency Project that reveals how Google is helping abortion clinics target low-income women across the United States.

Ads referencing abortion clinics

The numbers are staggering: in Phoenix (Arizona), for example, 56% of the ads shown to women in precarious situations asking for an abortion are for Crisis pregnancy centers, these poorly regulated medical sites, emblematic of the anti-abortion crusade in the United States. The staff’s work includes persuading patients to carry their pregnancies to term through questionable tactics, such as offering plenty of diapers or bottles, spreading false information about abortion to scare patients, or refusing to carry out pregnancy tests on women who are likely to have an abortion. The Tech Transparency Project also reveals that the higher the revenue, the lower the number of ads for these types of places: middle-class women have only 41% of gendered ads, compared to 7% of affluent women.

Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, is adamant: “ By targeting low-income women, rather than affluent people in states with very restrictive abortion laws, Google runs the risk of delaying referrals to a real clinic and preventing these women from receiving a legal and safe abortion. » This part of the population, in fact, often does not have the necessary resources to go to another State where the rules on abortion would be more flexible, if the terms had already expired.

Google is a political tool

This isn’t the first time Google has been criticized for its abortion issue. While the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe vs. Wade ruling last year, requiring states to decide whether to ban or limit access to abortion, Google has since become an essential policy tool. A study by the Tech Transparency Project dating back to last year already showed the presence of false advertisements from anti-abortion clinics claiming to practice abortions on the search engine, in total disagreement with the group’s guideline, which in any case advocates tolerance. in false advertising. Google had also been ordered to better identify the “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” on its Maps platform, as users were often redirected to these locations when searching for abortion clinics.

However, in July 2022, under pressure from Democratic senators, the company also announced in a press release that it would stop keeping geolocation data of its users when they went to certain sensitive places, including abortion clinics. The target ? Prevent this data from being reused by the authorities to punish and repress those who resort to abortion.

A step in the right direction, but still not enough. At a time when disinformation debates are raging, and as many users still turn to the platform for answers they deem indisputable, often forgetting that we don’t all get the same search results and that Google is inherently biased, it is imperative that the tech giant is transparent, especially when it comes to the survival of women.