Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced today that his office joined a coalition of seventeen state attorneys general in calling on Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Google, to not comply with Democratic lawmakers’ demands to skew Google search results to bury information on crisis pregnancy centers. Democratic politicians urged Pichai, according to the letter, to “take action to prevent anti-abortion fake clinics from appearing in search results.” Censorship of search results could potentially deprive women of free, helpful resources and raises grave First Amendment concerns.
“We must not allow Google to succumb to political pressure. Pregnancy crisis centers provide helpful, free services to women in need across the country – to censor their locations or information in searches deprives women and expectant mothers of those services and infringes on freedom of speech,” said Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
In response to Democratic politicians’ arguments that pregnancy crisis centers only push anti-abortion practices, the letter asserts that pregnancy crisis centers offer their services to all women, regardless of circumstance. The letter states that “crisis pregnancy centers served over 1.8 million clients in 2019, providing services valued at $266 million at little or no cost to their patients. These services included free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, parenting and prenatal education classes, post-abortive care and recovery counseling, and free or reduced-cost diapers, baby clothes, car seats, and strollers.”
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office joined another letter in June calling on United States Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate and prosecute violent attacks and threats made to pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations across the country.
In addition to Missouri, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia joined the letter to Google.
Original source can be found here.