The request came in a letter, whose top signatories were
Senator Mark Warner and Representative Elissa Slotkin, sent to Google on Friday
and first reported by Reuters.
The letter was prompted by a study released last week by the
nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. The study found that 11 percent
of the results for a search for an "abortion clinic near me" or
"abortion pill" in some states were for centres that oppose abortion.
The research was conducted in the 13 states with laws that
would ban abortion if, as expected, the US Supreme Court overturns the landmark
1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized it nationwide as soon as this month.
Google declined to comment on the letter to Alphabet chief
executive Sundar Pichai, but said of the report: "We're always looking at
ways to improve our results to help people find what they're looking for, or
understand if what they're looking for may not be available."
The letter was signed by 14 senators and seven members of
the US House of Representatives. All are Democrats.
Crisis pregnancy centres, which have been around in one form
or another for years, reflect disagreements in the United States over the right
to terminate a pregnancy. Some of the centers have been accused of giving women
inaccurate information about their pregnancy, which can jeopardize their access
to abortion.
"Google should not be displaying anti-abortion fake
clinics or crisis pregnancy centres," the lawmakers wrote. "If Google
must continue showing these misleading results...the results should, at the
very least, be appropriately labeled," they wrote.
Google has dealt with other health concerns differently.
Searches regarding suicide or sexual assault are topped by a curated list of
resources and trusted sources.
The research group also found that in the states that it
studied that 28 percent of Google Ads were for the anti-abortion centres, as
were 37 percent of the results on Google Maps. The letter said that some of the
centres had disclaimers but not all. © Reuters