back to article Google Maps, search results to point women to actual abortion providers

Google search results and Maps will clearly label healthcare clinics that provide abortion services, reducing the chances that women in crisis will be misdirected to "clinics" that don't in fact offer healthcare. The move follows the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade in June, which set in motion trigger laws …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Authoritative Data Sources

    In the US and Canada, that would be MIB Group, Inc., formerly the "Medical Information Bureau". It alleges it is an insurance anti-fraud service; I suspect it is (another) data-reseller.

    If Google has a deal with them, all Google has to do is grab every abortion insurance claim, sort by provider address, and poof-da, there's the answer.

  2. Christoph

    I can see a problem here - they will also be providing confirmed targets for the pro-forced-birthers to picket and attack.

    1. RichardBarrell

      I think the domestic terrorists already know.

      1. GFYNOW

        So the people who kill babies in the womb are not terrorists, but the people who protest the inhumane practice of abortion are the bad guys? Do you see how corrupt you have become? You support murder over life and are "proud" of it. Satan must be proud of his work on you,

  3. VBF

    IMO, anything that helps women CHOOSE where to go to get advice and / or abortion is to be lauded.

    These laws preventing adult women from deciding what happens to their bodies are positively medieval - more suited to The Taliban than to modern USA!

    1. VoiceOfTruth Silver badge

      The supposedly "Christian" right wing in the USA is the American Taliban. They are an intolerant un-Christian warmongering from-my-cold-dead-hands bunch of despots. They will find some justification in "scripture" for whatever nasty deeds they do.

      I can imagine a scene, much like a horror film, certain "Christian" churches: Verily we made the wenches bring forth child after child. It's a miracle. And fire and brimstone on ye idolaters. Nail 'em up. Naiiiillll 'em up.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "They will find some justification in "scripture" for whatever nasty deeds they do."

        ...like eating pork and bacon

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          re: in the 'scripture'

          unless they ban the Bible like one school district in Texas did, because they deemed it unsuitable for children.

          Marjorie Trailertrash Greene loves to pretend that she is a Christian Nationalist. She's part of the 'Amerika First' caucus which back before WW2 was the name of the US branch of the Nazi Party.

          IMHO, the USA is about to head towards a fascist state unless the voters can head them off at the pass but even then, the GQP will probably refuse to accept that the vote was valid and the defeated candidates will refuse to concede defeat just as one did in the primary even though she lost by more than 40 points.

          Just a thought.

          1. Gene Cash Silver badge

            Re: re: in the 'scripture'

            unless the voters can head them off at the pass

            Workin' on it, mate! This week I voted in my first primary and I'm over 50.

          2. EarthDog

            Re: re: in the 'scripture'

            About to head towards a facist state? This has been going on since Reagan. It’s only in the last 20 years ppl. Have begun to notice

        2. VoiceOfTruth Silver badge

          I will debate this one point with you very briefly, but it holds in general for my views on religion.

          The bible is a collection of texts written by various unknown people a long time ago and over a long time period. It was gathered into an "authorised" edition based on the biases and thoughts and wishes of certain self-elected people. Just take Mark's gospel as one example. It was attributed a long time ago by unknown people to a man called Mark. In this day and age we cannot even be sure of the attribution of some works of art from less than 100 years ago, but such a simple point is lost on people who "believe" in the bible.

          Based on the collection of anonymous authors and in many cases anonymous compilers and translators of the bible, certain food is considered unclean to all God's children (whoever they are). If you wish to follow this practice that is your prerogative. But don't preach it to me.

          While I recognise the idea of good deeds and treating people well, that is not an inherently Christian or even religious concept. Quite a few of the un-Christians who refer to the "Good Book" supported kidnapping and enslaving people, finding justification for their heinous crimes in "scripture". My ethics are better than theirs. And I don't need to set myself up a member of some self-elected priestly caste to state it.

          1. MJI Silver badge

            Just asked Mark, he didn't write it.

            1. First Light

              Did you talk to Jesus also?

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                or his brother

                Or his brother Carlos?

              2. EarthDog

                I sure did. He’s finishing my basement after all

          2. Version 1.0 Silver badge

            I am a vegetarian so I don't "Eat Meat" ... but I accept that all meat is basically just recycled vegetables and all vegetables are eventually recycled meat. So I don't eat meat but I accept that eating vegetables is just a little distant (seven feet and a few years) from most animals that walk around the Earth ...

            This view has always influenced my diet ever since I was a kid and noticed that once I stopped eating meat, I was much happier walking to school through the farmer's herd of cows every day.

          3. GFYNOW

            You trying to justify your worship of Satan is adorable. Keep making excuses for evil. Your time is coming to an end.

      2. G.Y.

        3mo

        I believe the taliban permit abortion in 1st 3 months

  4. Filippo Silver badge

    Attempting to trick women into visiting places that do not, in fact, provide the service they are looking for, is despicable and Google does well to attempt to counter it.

    1. GFYNOW

      Yeah. Google needs to make sure as many abortions happen as possible. They are running out of Adrenochrome, Trump really put them behind schedule and then the Supreme Court made it harder for them to keep up with demand. Google needs dead fetuses.

  5. Cederic Silver badge

    for balance

    Can they also label "will talk you into an abortion, whether it's the right choice for you or not" and "makes money after you've left too"?

    I'm pro-abortion but thoroughly support properly informing women then giving them adequate time to decide, and I'd enforce an 'all abortions must be incinerated' law.

    1. DJO Silver badge

      Re: for balance

      Bullshit.

      will talk you into an abortion

      This never happens except in the fevered dreams of the anti-choice brigade. It's more right wing projection - they want to control people so they assume everybody else is doing the same.

      Nobody who is pro-choice would say they are "pro-abortion". Ideally hardly anybody would ever have an abortion except when there is a danger to the woman because ideally there would be adequate sex education and provision of contraceptives and good confidential accurate advice on contraception. (And ideally all men would understand the meaning of the word "no")

      So if you want to reduce abortions the best way is to provide care well in advance of the problem occurring and give women the tools and knowledge to avoid accidental pregnancies.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: for balance

        Uh huh...

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w955V6ULd4

        1. DJO Silver badge

          Re: for balance

          There are idiots on every side of every argument but they are statistically irrelevant.

          One person in millions is not a trend.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: for balance

            >"this never happens"

            -documented evidence of it happening

            >"irrelevant"

            Gaslighting

            1. DJO Silver badge

              Re: for balance

              OK you are right

              "this almost never happens, perhaps once in a million times when you get an idiot who does not understand the issues.

              Happy now?

            2. DJO Silver badge

              Re: for balance

              There's a thing called false equivalence.

              The BBC had this in the run up to the Brexit vote, 99.99% of economists approached stated that Brexit was an economically stupid idea but due to pressure from the government they had to do interviews with one pro and one against which presented an unintentionally misleading impression.

              To be truly unbiased they should have had 9999 economists against and 1 for on the debate but that would not have made for good or even watchable TV. By just having one of each it presented a false equivalence and you are doing exactly the same thing.

              1. J.G.Harston Silver badge

                Re: for balance

                And of course that was clearly representative as shown in the vote where 99.99% voted for Remain.

                1. DJO Silver badge

                  Re: for balance

                  No.

                  They didn't.

                  Perhaps if they were given accurate information instead of the lies and misinformation peddled by the Brexit side the result might have been different.

                  However I'll guarantee that at least 99.99% of economists voted Remain.

              2. VoiceOfTruth Silver badge

                Re: for balance

                Brexit was not merely an economic question.

                1. DJO Silver badge

                  Re: for balance

                  No. Who said it was?

                  But almost every expert in every field that Brexit would affect said it was a bad idea. And they were right.

                  1. VoiceOfTruth Silver badge

                    Re: for balance

                    That is why politics is not left to experts.

                    1. DJO Silver badge

                      Re: for balance

                      Which in turn is why the country is completely fucked.

                      Maybe if they listened to the experts like the climatologists who have been warning us for over 40 years, the climate would be in a better state than it is now and the same is true for most disciplines.

                      Dismissing the advice from experts for ideological reasons is insane but that has been their policy for ages and it just does not work,

              3. GFYNOW

                Re: for balance

                Only a tyrant wants to silence "unimportant" opinions. Your percentages are not reality. Its not about what "economists" (corrupt of course) want. IT IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT!

                Take your globalist biases and stick em.

                1. DJO Silver badge

                  Re: for balance

                  You joined a few days ago and every message you have sent has been hateful. Not a single constructive word.

                  Perhaps you should Go Fuck Yourself NOW. Anybody using that as a handle plainly is not interested in fair and open debate.

          2. Trigonoceps occipitalis

            Re: for balance

            "One person in millions is not a trend."

            You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick, and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them and three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in, singing a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends, they may think it's a movement!

            Alice’s Restaurant Massacree by Arlo Guthrie

      2. Sub 20 Pilot

        Re: for balance

        Being male I can't begin to comprehend the anguish that a woman seeking an abortion goes through. I know of a very small number who have had to do this, for medical reasons and they were very close personal friends.

        I would quite happily tie to a tree and set fire to any of these taliban style anti-abortionists if they had tried to intervene in the sad cases I know of.

        It happens in the US today and my fear is that this medieval nonsense will be with us in the UK before long. All shit from there ends up over here.

        1. GFYNOW

          Re: for balance

          There are not that many legitimate excuses for abortion. Pregnancy just does not threaten the life of the mother that often. Gaslighting has worked on you it would seem. There is no way you know more than one. They are using abortion as birth control and you accept it. Satan's work is done with you.

          1. DJO Silver badge

            Re: for balance

            You are a fucking moron. No birth control is 100% efficient, accidents happen. Anyway no man has any right to say what a woman can and cannot do, it's her fucking body.

            So you think in the cases where it does threaten the life of the mother, tough shit, let her die?

            History time:

            Do you know who used to perform herbal induced mismarriages using pennyroyal? Catholic priests - they were generally the only people well educated enough to get the dose right.

            Benjamin Franklin wrote and published a book including instructions on how use pennyroyal as an abortifacient.

            This insane hatred of abortion is new, it is 100% to control women. If they were concerned about children they would promote childcare and free nurseries and good schools along with accurate unbiased advice on contraception but no, none of that is done.

    2. Howard Sway Silver badge

      Re: for balance

      How noble of you, deciding that these ignorant Jezebels need to be "properly informed" about what an abortion is, they couldn't possibly know, could they?

      Women already have time to make the decision themselves, I presume when you say you support "giving" them time, you mean forcing them to wait.

      It is not for you, nor I, to decide what women may or may not choose to do regarding a pregnancy. The fact that you and many other men think you have the right to decide for them is the real problem.

      1. Cederic Silver badge

        Re: for balance

        That's a very curious interpretation of a hope that women be allowed to make an informed choice.

        Please stop libelling me.

    3. Filippo Silver badge

      Re: for balance

      Uh, if a woman does not want to have an abortion, she's unlikely to Google for abortion clinics.

  6. b0llchit Silver badge
    Big Brother

    Using google is a bad idea for privacy

    And the government of some states will get google's search records and start a tracking action.

    1. Graham Cobb Silver badge

      Re: Using google is a bad idea for privacy

      That is likely true. But many (almost certainly most) people in that situation will still use Google so this is an important step.

      I guess the only better step would be to respond to that request with "we are unable to provide you the necessary confidentiality for this search - please use DuckDuckGo instead".

    2. Zippy´s Sausage Factory
      Unhappy

      Re: Using google is a bad idea for privacy

      Assuming they don't pass a law making the search results illegal first

  7. sreynolds

    What next?

    When you search for problems with GMail they won't point you to a high paying add from a scammer?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The US Conservatives make the Amish look modern

    Religious conservatism = Taliban Lite [TM]

    Wake up America!

    1. Denarius

      Re: The US Conservatives make the Amish look modern

      do you mean the atheist religions who still believe in 18th and 19th century myths also ?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The US Conservatives make the Amish look modern

        “Atheist religions”

        Pls look up the term “Oxymoron”

        1. ChoHag Silver badge

          Re: The US Conservatives make the Amish look modern

          Please look up the term atheist. It is to do with deities, not social organisations.

    2. GFYNOW

      Re: The US Conservatives make the Amish look modern

      "All my enemies are the Taliban" - A children's book for sheeple.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    M - ake

    A - merica

    G - estate

    A - gain

    (and again)

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      OR...

      MAGA == Make Attorneys Get Attorneys

  10. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Stop

    Land of the free - except if you're a woman ... of an unborn child that isn't afforded any protection from mass murder practices either. Barbaric.

  11. J.G.Harston Silver badge

    Isn't this a non-story? Search engine developers work to ensure search engine gives appropriate results to searches. Film at ten.

    1. Androgynous Cupboard Silver badge

      To be fair, that is kind of remarkable

  12. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    Care

    It's interesting that these zealots care so much about the faetus, but once one is born, then oh well, go funk yourself you little scrounger.

    1. skeptical i

      Re: Care

      George Carlin (RIP) made this very point back in 1996 (~8:10) -- https://www.youtube.com/embed/M-bLf4F0PM4 -- sanctity of life until it's born, then you're on your own.

  13. Il'Geller

    The key to Google's conduct: who helped Brin, Page and Zucker to win PA Advisors v Google? Why Randall Ray Rader (born April 21, 1949) is a former United States Circuit Judge and former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit — took the case?

    Since that time Google and FB are doomed to support any initiative of the Democratic Party, knowing that artificial intelligence technology is changing the advertising landscape and depriving them both of their only source of revenue.

    1. John PM Chappell

      Take your frog pills.

      You're off your meds again, aren't you?

  14. Benegesserict Cumbersomberbatch Silver badge

    Google is broken

    Google got to where it is today because it used to be the best search engine. You could type in a query, it would apply its algorithms, and give you a best fit. If you didn't like what you got the first time, you could refine your search and in no more than a few generations your sought information would be there.

    Now you get

    - Ads by corporates who pay for rank by keyword, regardless of relevance to the rest of the query

    - "other people were looking for..."

    - aggregators like Quora and Reddit that quickly degenerate into clickbait

    - results that completely omit terms you do search for

    Now they even have a little fine print link after results that says "must include <term from user's query>": what on earth are they thinking? Why would I have put a search term into my query if I thought it was okay for you to leave relevant results out in the first place?

    It used to be "we help you find what you want". Now it's "we give you what we're paid to make you think you want". This is a symptom of a deep disease inside Google.

  15. emmawaston79

    If Google offers that option, it means that all abortion providers can be trusted and that all of their information is saved in Google's database. But in a lot of states, abortion is against the law, and I don't know how Google deals with these states. This is because too many states in the US have made abortion illegal.

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