According to information provided to Congress on Thursday by Google’s top executive, medical facilities in the United States that provide abortions will be explicitly identified in search results and on Google Maps to prevent confusion with anti-abortion facilities.
In a letter to Senator Mark Warner and Representative Elissa Slotkin, Google’s vice president for government affairs and public policy for the US and Canada, Mark Isakowitz, stated that when users search for “abortion clinics near me,” the results box will show locations that have been verified to offer abortions.
According to Isakowitz, the internet giant will also enable users to expand their search to include relevant results from businesses that don’t offer abortions.
Google’s statement came in response to a letter from Warner and Slotkin, dated June 17, asking Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai to stop Google search results from referring users to anti-abortion organisations.
Following Roe’s overturn, around half of the American states have attempted to outlaw or restrict abortions or are anticipated to do so. Idaho, Texas, and 11 additional states have “trigger” laws that forbid abortion upon making such a decision.
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Since the Supreme Court’s decision, a number of conservative states have already outlawed abortion, and in the coming weeks or months, over half of the 50 US states are anticipated to follow suit.
Democratic President Joe Biden criticised the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion last month, which was ruled by conservatives, and he has urged Americans to vote in record numbers in November’s midterm elections.
However, because the incumbent party typically does poorly in midterm elections, Democrats run the risk of losing both their majority in the House and their tenuous hold on the Senate.
(with inputs from agencies)
