Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Yelp for alleged discrimination against pro-life crisis pregnancy centers.
Paxton was recently acquitted of all charges in an impeachment hearing that some argue was a politically fueled attack. And the Texas AG is already back to fighting for constitutional rights, as he brings a lawsuit against Yelp for reported violations of his state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Paxton accuses Yelp of adding “inaccurate and misleading language” to pregnancy center listings.
More specifically, in his Sept. 28 press release, Paxton stated that Yelp previously added notes to pregnancy center listings saying the centers “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.” Pregnancy centers informed Yelp that the information was “misleading” and sometimes even “untrue,” since “pregnancy resource centers frequently do provide medical services with licensed medical professionals onsite.” In contrast, Paxton explained, “it is in fact abortion providers that often do not have licensed medical professionals onsite,” yet Yelp didn’t slap context labels on abortion clinic listings.
Not that tech company censorship of pro-lifers is exactly new. In fact, back in January 2022, MRC Free Speech America noted that Big Tech has a consistent history of promoting abortion but censoring pro-life groups and content. In response to Paxton’s lawsuit, MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider urged, “The Federal Trade Commission should [also] launch an investigation about whether Yelp is engaged in a deceptive trade practice.” (Disclosure: I am a contributing writer at MRC.)
While the above-quoted notes no longer appear to be on Yelp’s listings of pregnancy centers, the centers still have a “Consumer Notice” that says, “This is a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Crisis Pregnancy Centers do not offer abortions or referrals to abortion providers.” Pregnancy centers specifically aim to assist pregnant women and do not profess in any way to provide abortion services, making Yelp’s note completely unnecessary. Yelp appears to be latching onto the leftist trend of falsely claiming that pregnancy centers are “fake abortion clinics.”
Related: D.C. Court Sides With Pro-Life ‘Vandals’
Similar consumer notices do not seem to appear on abortion provider listings on Yelp. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman previously wrote a piece deploring the SCOTUS Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the abortion issue back to the states. He urged companies to take “action” in support of abortion.
“Yelp cannot mislead and deceive the public simply because the company disagrees with our state’s abortion laws,” Paxton insisted. His press release stated, “Yelp’s CEO is entitled to his views on abortion, but he was not entitled to use the Yelp platform to deceptively disparage facilities that counsel pregnant women instead of providing abortions.” Yelp is targeting pregnancy centers unfairly, and it seems to be a politically-fueled effort.
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