Lauren Moye, FISM News
Nearly a month ago, Democratic lawmakers pressured Alphabet, Inc. to censor crisis pregnancy centers in their searches and on their maps. Now, 17 Republican attorneys general are warning that they will sue if the parent company of Google bows to liberal demands.
Attorneys General Jason Miyares of Virginia and Daniel Cameron of Kentucky led in a letter dated July 21 to Sundar Pichai, the chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc. The letter begins by acknowledging Google’s dominance as the primary search engine in the U.S.
“The dominant position comes with tremendous responsibility,” they stated. The attorneys general noted that politicians now want to use Google’s dominance to actively discriminate against crisis pregnancy centers in a move of “un-American political pressure.”
They added, “We wish to make this very clear to Google and other market participants that it dwarfs: If you fail to resist this political pressure, we will act swiftly to protect American consumers from this dangerous axis of corporate and government power.”
FISM previously reported that a coalition of 21 left-leaning politicians urged Pichai to bury crisis pregnancy centers in search results on June 17. They also advocated for special targeting of results within states with abortion bans coming into effect after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The lawmakers asked that “results should, at the very least, be appropriately labeled.”
New York’s Attorney General Letitia James made similar demands in a June 28 letter according to a Daily Caller report. So far, the company has not issued any statements about plans to censor or label crisis pregnancy centers.
A true asset to their communities, crisis pregnancy centers are responsible for close to 1 million children being given life instead of abortion and providing “roughly two million women, men, and youth” with a variety of services totaling “over $266 million.”
However, Democrats continue to unfairly campaign against these facilities that offer financial and emotional support to women in crisis pregnancies. Just last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said crisis pregnancy centers are “there to fool people” and that Massachusetts residents “need to shut them down.”
The attorneys general wrote, “That Members of the United States Congress would openly call for the full weight and power of the federal government to shut down private charitable organizations that have shown compassion and love to so many vulnerable women over the years is unconscionable.”
According to the coalition, bowing to political pressure in this instance would violate free speech and suppress the religious expression of the crisis pregnancy centers which are predominantly faith-based. Additionally, it would interrupt the free-market principles that govern American society.
Because of this, the attorney generals “cannot imagine a potential antitrust violation more odious to American ideals” than allowing some government actors to dictate what views and beliefs can be easily expressed to the public. They promised to take legal action if necessary to protect their constituents.
They requested Google to answer within 14 days if they have already taken or planned steps to censor crisis pregnancy centers.
The letter was also signed by the attorney generals of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.