Google will label medical facilities that offer abortion services, in its Search and Maps applications. This will assist women when they seek facilities to provide those services, after the overturning of Roe v Wade, which complicated matters, to say the least.
The update will reduce the confusion and save women a lot of time and stress in their search for abortion services.
The company said that if it receives confirmation that a facility provides abortion services, it will put a label that says, “provides abortions.” If confirmation is not received, the label will read, “might provide abortions.”
The search engine service is provided by Alphabet Incorporated.
The change occurred because US lawmakers were concerned that Google searches were providing confusing or misleading information. Representative Elissa Slotkin and Senator Mark R. Warner said that 37% of Maps results and 11% of Google search results for “abortion clinic near me” is for anti-abortion clinics.
The lawmakers requested the update in a letter to Google. The search engine was, probably inadvertently, steering people away from abortion clinics.
Google said it will improve how they display labels in their search engine results. These improvements will give users additional, more specific, information about the search results.
Alphabet Inc. said that the labels will be displayed in a style similar to the search results when people seek a specific COVID vaccine brand or an electric vehicle charging station, so that people will get more accurate results.
Confirmation will be obtained from a facility by calling the business directly and working with authorized personnel and verified data sources to determine the clinic’s services.
Since 2019, Google has been displaying in-ad disclosures to make it clear to online searchers which clinics have completed a verification process. Under the new update, the disclosures will become more noticeable. In addition, facilities that offer oral abortion solutions (pills) will be certified as clinics that offer abortion services.
The updated labeling system could be helpful to women looking for clinics in states where abortions have been outlawed. They will be able to more easily find the closest clinic in a nearby state.
“When people turn to Google to find local information, we aim to help them easily explore the range of places available so they can determine which are most helpful to them,” a Google representative said in a statement.