- Fake clinics now outnumber real clinics by 3 to 1, with about 2,600 in the US, campaigners say.
- Fake clinics post misleading information about fake or exaggerated side effects on their websites.
- Campaigners want Google to stop these sites appearing in searches for abortion clinics.
Fake abortion clinics that try to trick pregnant women in states where abortion is now banned and are searching online for termination options were given an unprecedented boost after Roe v Wade was overturned earlier this year, campaigners argue.
Research shows that thousands of clinics posing as health centers offering abortions are ideological pro-life hubs that aim to pressure and shame pregnant women into abandoning their termination plans.
A nine-state study by the Alliance, which advocates for women's rights and gender equality, found that fake clinics now outnumber authentic clinics 3 to 1, with about 2,600 now operating in the US.
For example, the Alliance found, in searching "abortion clinic New Mexico," one of the first sites featured is the Care Net Centre of Santa Fe. While it appears to offer advice for abortion, it simply lists a long list of dangerous, painful side effects, and a small message at the bottom of the page states, "our centers do not offer, recommend or refer for abortions."
The misinformation they offer includes telling women that "suicidal impulses" are common side-effects of abortions. This is disputed by the American Psychiatric Association. There are also claims that "abortion reversals" are 65% effective. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology says reversal treatments are not based on science.
The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) recently studied the "trigger law" state and found that 1 in 10 Google search results lead people to fake-abortion clinics. Meanwhile, 37% of Google Map results presented anti-abortion institutions as legitimate abortion clinics.
"There's no attempt to distinguish the actual abortion clinics from the fake ones," Callum Hood from the CCDH told Insider.
"It's not like there hasn't been a lot of noise about the role that tech might have to play post-Roe v. Wade," he said. "They've had time to prepare. All we're doing is a sort of basic safety check. Google should be doing those checks of the results it's putting in front of vulnerable users seeking abortions."
A Google spokesperson told Insider: "We work to make high-quality information easily accessible, particularly on critical health topics. When people search for places on Google Maps, we aim to provide them with a range of relevant options and context to determine which results will be most helpful."
The spokesperson said Google was seeking to improve search results for critical topics, such as health, and said it was using extra layers of verification to confirm that clinics did offer abortions.
One woman, who did not want her name to be used, contacted a fake clinic whe she was seeking an abortion.
"I explained to the clinic worker that I wanted an abortion. I expected a suggestion of dates available, but instead they started talking about my other options, focusing specifically on adoption. I already knew this wasn't right for me. When they kept persisting, I realized these people weren't there to get me out of a dangerous situation – they were putting me in one," she told Insider.
The clinic contacted to contact her, leaving her fearing her private information could be turned over to the authorities.
Sara Aniano, a disinformation researcher at the Anti-Defamation League, started studying the growth of fake clinics when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
She searched Google for abortion clinics in 49 states, and fake abortion clinics – often called "pregnancy crisis centers" – were prominently displayed in many states.
In Kentucky, for example, 80% of results on the first page of Google results were for fake clinics, according to Aniano's investigation.
"I would have to click every single search result to determine whether or not they were legitimate abortion clinics, and sometimes it was really hard to tell, even when I was on the site, because they tried to be really sneaky about it," she told Insider.
