Current:Home > InvestYelp sues Texas to keep crisis pregnancy center description labels-VaTradeCoin
Yelp sues Texas to keep crisis pregnancy center description labels
View Date:2025-01-08 16:24:22
Online business review site Yelp is suing Texas to defend its descriptions of crisis pregnancy centers which make clear to readers that the centers do not provide abortions or abortion referrals.
Currently, Yelp applies an alert it calls a "Consumer Notice" to crisis pregnancy center listings reading, "This is a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Crisis Pregnancy Centers do not offer abortions or referrals to abortion providers."
Yelp is suing Texas to prevent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from punishing the company "for publishing truthful information about businesses that offer pregnancy-related counseling to the public," the company said in a complaint filed Wednesday in San Francisco federal court.
Paxton sued Yelp Thursday, claiming it violated Texas' Deceptive Trade Practices Act "by appending inaccurate and misleading language to listings on pregnancy resource centers appearing in the search results on Yelp's app and website."
"Yelp cannot mislead and deceive the public simply because the company disagrees with our state's abortion laws," Attorney General Paxton said in a statement. "Major companies cannot abuse their platforms and influence to control consumers' behavior, especially on sensitive health issues like pregnancy and abortion."
The suit comes after Paxton told Yelp he planned to sue the company for stating that crisis pregnancy centers "typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite," Yelp told CBS MoneyWatch.
Yelp alleges such action violates the First Amendment. The company has also since changed its language to make clear the centers do not provide abortions, a statement Paxton has called "accurate."
Trustworthy information
Yelp explains it first started adding the notices to listings for crisis pregnancy centers in August 2022 when it found they were leading consumers seeking abortion care to anti-abortion counseling services.
Initially, the notices informed users that such centers "typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite," a statement Yelp alleges is truthful and accurate and was "intended to enable Yelp users to make informed choices."
In February 2023 Paxton demanded that Yelp remove the notice, calling it misleading.
Yelp updated the notice to indicate that such centers don't provide abortions. Paxton conceded that the current crisis pregnancy center labelling language is "accurate." Still, Yelp expects Paxton to file suit as early as Friday.
- Illinois governor signs bill outlawing deception by "crisis pregnancy centers"
"The trust and safety of our users is a top priority for Yelp, which is why we take extensive measures to provide consumers with relevant and reliable information when they search for local businesses on our platform," Yelp said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. "This is especially critical when people are searching for health care services on Yelp, including reproductive care."
Attorney General Paxton's office did not immediately reply to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment.
Yelp has also taken action to protect its own employees in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The company pays for workers who live in states where their rights are limited to travel to get an abortion, Yelp Chief Diversity Officer Miriam Warren told CBS News.
"We recognize that in order to give our employees equal access to the health care they may need, we need a travel benefit to allow them to travel if necessary," she said.
veryGood! (88)
Related
- Mean Girls’ Lacey Chabert Details “Full Circle” Reunion With Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Seyfried
- Throw the Best Pool Party of the Summer with These Essentials: Floats, Games, Music, & More
- Get the Know the New Real Housewives of New York City Cast
- It’s the Features, Stupid: EV Market Share Is Growing Because the Vehicles Keep Getting Better
- Texas now tops in SEC? Miami in trouble? Five overreactions to college football Week 11
- Can Iceberg Surges in the Arctic Trigger Rapid Warming at the Other End of The World?
- Colorado Frackers Doubled Freshwater Use During Megadrought, Even as Drilling and Oil Production Fell
- North West Meets Chilli Months After Recreating TLC's No Scrubs Video Styles With Friends
- Congress is revisiting UFOs: Here's what's happened since last hearing on extraterrestrials
- Plans for I-55 Expansion in Chicago Raise Concerns Over Air Quality and Community Health
Ranking
- Five best fits for Alex Bregman: Will Astros homegrown star leave as free agent?
- Love Seen Lashes From RHONY Star Jenna Lyons Will Have You Taking a Bite Out of Summer
- Why Kate Winslet Absolutely Roasted Robert Downey Jr. After His Failed The Holiday Audition
- Jamie Lee Curtis Has the Ultimate Response to Lindsay Lohan Giving Birth to Her First Baby
- The Best Gifts for People Who Don’t Want Anything
- Restoring Seabird Populations Can Help Repair the Climate
- Shell Sued Over Air Emissions at Pennsylvania’s New Petrochemical Plant
- Plastic Recycling Plant Could Send Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ Into the Susquehanna River, Polluting a Vital Drinking Water Source
Recommendation
-
Trump on Day 1: Begin deportation push, pardon Jan. 6 rioters and make his criminal cases vanish
-
Yellowstone’s Cole Hauser & Wife Cynthia Daniel Share Glimpse Inside Family Life With Their 3 Kids
-
Ariana Grande Gives Glimpse Into Life in London After Dalton Gomez Breakup
-
Love Seen Lashes From RHONY Star Jenna Lyons Will Have You Taking a Bite Out of Summer
-
U.S.-Mexico water agreement might bring relief to parched South Texas
-
Cities Stand to Win Big With the Inflation Reduction Act. How Do They Turn This Opportunity Into Results?
-
New Research Shows Global Climate Benefits Of Protecting Nature, but It’s Not a Silver Bullet
-
With Revenue Flowing Into Its Coffers, a German Village Broadens Its Embrace of Wind Power