Google has shut down all ads from a major pro-life group due to a dispute over one of its ads about abortion pill reversal, the group says.
Live Action, a pro-life group founded by Lila Rose, said on Tuesday that all of its Google ads were shut down due to Google’s “unreliable claims” policy – a move that effectively bans Live Action from advertising on the platform.
.@Google has also banned the promotion of our Baby Olivia video, a medically accurate (& accredited by OBGYNs), lifelike animation of human development in the womb, citing “unreliable claims.”
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) September 14, 2021
This is the video banned from ads: https://t.co/CwR2L2hKug
Unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/Jnz0bqqLyA
Google’s action apparently centered on Live Action’s abortion pill reversal ads, which told women they could reverse their medical abortion if they had taken the first pill but not the second. (The abortion pill is a two-step process.) The headline said: “Did You Change Your Mind? Do You Regret Your Choice?”
Rose said the abortion pill reversal method had saved 2,500 unborn babies from medical abortion.
The abortion pill reversal ads had been running for about four months.
After banning the pro-life ads, Google continued to allow pro-choice ads for the abortion pill to run on its platform. The company’s action sparked frustration throughout the pro-life community, including from members of Congress.
“Once again Big Tech is silencing and censoring the pro-life movement,” tweeted U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.). “This is unacceptable. @Google. must reverse their decision now.”
Once again Big Tech is silencing and censoring the pro-life movement. This is unacceptable. @Google must reverse their decision now. https://t.co/hYXd2E3DKQ
— Steve Daines (@SteveDaines) September 14, 2021
Abortion pill reversal includes treatment with the hormone progesterone, which “has been safely used for decades as standard treatment to prevent miscarriages,” Live Action said. It has a 68 percent success rate, according to the pro-life group.
“The abortion industry opposes abortion pill reversal, which tends to cast doubt on the idea that all women who choose abortion are certain of their decision to abort, and because between 39 and 41% of all abortions are now done using the abortion pill method – a significant source of income for the industry,” Live Action said.
Google also shut down ads for Live Action’s groundbreaking animated video showing a baby developing in the womb.
“This is a blatant, political double standard: Google is ok with ads promoting life-ending drugs, but not life-saving treatments,” Rose wrote. “Where’s the ‘choice?’ for women, @Google?”
Related:
Tony Dungy Defends the Unborn: Jesus Told Us to ‘Help the Powerless and the Voiceless’
Photo courtesy: Christian Wiediger/Unsplash
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
