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The influential Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has confronted a move by the popular directory service, Yelp, to marginalise and discredit crisis pregnancy centres through misleading disclaimers. The ERLC acting director said he was “deeply concerned” by the “dangerous and misleading” notices.

Yelp is a popular website that enables users to find and review businesses online. It is ranked within the top 200 websites in the world, receiving 148 million visits per month.

In the wake of the overturning of Roe v Wade in June, the website decided to include a disclaimer for crisis pregnancy centres. The disclaimer reads as follows:

“This is a Crisis Pregnancy Centre. Crisis Pregnancy Centres typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical staff onsite.”

Image: Baptist Press

Ironically, the notice implicitly admitted several facts that radical anti-life activists would strenuously deny. Namely, that crisis pregnancy centres do provide legitimate medical services and often have licensed medical staff onsite, alongside volunteers.

Nonetheless, the disclaimer was patently misleading, unfairly targetting crisis pregnancy centres over abortion clinics. And they were called out on it.

Limiting Choice

Brent Leatherwood, the acting director of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the influential Southern Baptist Convention, wrote a firm letter to the organisation decrying the misleading nature of the disclaimers. He said that the actions of Yelp “limit the options of women through [the] use of one-sided and misleading labeling.”

Leatherwood also highlighted the case of Hope Resource Centre, a Tennessee-based Crisis Pregnancy Centre that “offers free pregnancy testing, ultrasound imaging, STD testing, well-woman exams, and pap testing, and employs seven medical professionals.”

“[Hope Resource Centre] is currently inaccurately designated with the ‘crisis pregnancy center’ label that states ‘typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.’”

Leatherwood pointed out that the disclaimer is not fairly and consistently applied to services that commit abortions and those that do not.

“A consistent application of this labeling process must also include identifying abortion clinics that operate without medical licensing or hospital admitting privileges and offer only abortion services. Hope Resource Center should not be labeled as having substandard care while abortion clinics that offer no other services are touted as legitimate healthcare providers.”

You can read Leatherwood’s full letter below.

Biological Truth

The ERLC’s director of research and chair of research in technology ethics, Jason Thacker, also voiced his opposition to the new alerts.

He highlighted the role that Crisis Pregnancy Centres play in providing women with a genuine choice and the opportunity to make up their own minds, uncoerced:

“A vast amount of women have been led to believe by a deceptive pro-abortion industry that killing the baby in the womb is the primary solution in these types of situations. But with advances in technology, especially ultrasound machines, women can now see what they typically already know subconsciously — that there is a living human being growing inside of them for whom they are their only source of support, love, and protection.”

But it’s not just about information. According to Thacker,

“… pregnancy resource centers and faith-based clinics are ready and able to assist far more than abortion clinics in caring for women with prenatal, postnatal, and even postpartum services — including options like adoption.

These services often include provision of clothes, food, diapers, strollers, and countless other items for women in need so that they can raise their family and care for their children, regardless of financial or material circumstances.

On top of this level of holistic care, many of these life-saving clinics are also staffed with trained medical professionals, including technicians with limited OB-training that is required in order to maintain, use, and interpret the results of ultrasound machines.”

He called out prominent American politicians, like pro-abortion activist Senator Elizabeth Warren, for promoting misinformation about Crisis Pregnancy Centres.

Tacker concluded his article with a stern message to Yelp:

“If Yelp and other information providers actually want to provide reliable information and assist vulnerable women, they would not apply misleading labels, de-list, or remove this life-saving information from those who need it most… Limiting access to information based on partisan and ideological beliefs is the complete opposite of what these companies claim to stand for and support.”

Yelp’s actions are a great example of how language can be used to subversively marginalise and discredit particular subjects — in this case, Crisis Pregnancy Centres — under the guise of “reliable information”.

Full Text of Brent Leatherwood’s Letter to Yelp

“I am writing to you today as the acting president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). Our organization serves as the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the nation’s largest Protestant denomination with over 50,000 churches and congregations and nearly 14 million members.

Southern Baptists have long been involved in the public debates over abortion and have advocated consistently for both women and children to be protected and honored. We do this because of our fundamental belief that all people are made in the image of God and, thus, have inherent value and dignity. At the same time, we also have been on the ground, assisting countless pregnancy centers and faith-based health clinics in a variety of ways, including our efforts to help them obtain life-saving ultrasound machines as well as the requisite medical training to utilize these machines through our Psalm 139 Project. Alongside our robust pro-life advocacy, we also are championing a civilized digital public square for a pluralistic society through our work in technology ethics and digital governance. This work is led by our chair of research in technology ethics Jason Thacker, who has written and worked extensively on the challenges technologies companies, like Yelp, are facing in content moderation and digital accountability.

In light of that unique role, we are deeply concerned by your company’s decision to add labels to pregnancy centers and clinics, casting doubt on the authenticity of their medical credentials. A thorough review would reveal that many of these clinics actually do employ medical professionals and offer legitimate, quality, holistic care for women and children in need that exceeds anything offered by most abortion clinics. This new label brings unnecessary doubt and will steer women away from receiving the information, care, supplies, and support that these centers offer, often at no cost. Mislabeling these clinics, their staff and services, is both dangerous and misleading.

As just one example, Hope Resource Center in Knoxville, Tenn., offers free pregnancy testing, ultrasound imaging, STD testing, well-woman exams, and pap testing, and employs seven medical professionals. It is currently inaccurately designated with the “crisis pregnancy center” label that states “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.”

While we acknowledge that not all pregnancy centers have as many offerings as Hope Resource Center, it is misleading to imply that all pregnancy centers do not or may not provide authentic medical care by trained professionals. A consistent application of this labeling process must also include identifying abortion clinics that operate without medical licensing or hospital admitting privileges and offer only abortion services. Hope Resource Center should not be labeled as having substandard care while abortion clinics that offer no other services are touted as legitimate healthcare providers. If Yelp is seeking transparency and honesty in their listings, those values must be applied consistently and fairly to all.

I understand Yelp desires to provide “reliable” and “useful” information to its users. That is not what this is. Not only is your company misleading women about these clinics, it also remains silent about the grisly realities of abortion facilities. As such, your actions here limit the options of women through your use of one-sided and misleading labeling. We urge you to reconsider this policy and would welcome the opportunity to provide further feedback and suggestions on a better path forward as this issue is being considered and debated throughout our society.”

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Photo by Matilda Wormwood.