Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Thursday against Yelp, accusing the crowdsourcing review platform of misleading users about pregnancy resource centers in light of its CEO’s pro-choice advocacy.
The lawsuit says Yelp engaged in deceptive trade practices and violated state law by posting a consumer notice on the business accounts of pregnancy resource centers that says they “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.”
“That was false. Pregnancy resource centers provide significant care and counseling to pregnant women. And they commonly provide significant medical services, and have licensed medical professionals onsite,” the lawsuit states.
Mr. Paxton, a Republican, said Yelp also failed to remove the statement when the centers’ reached out for corrections. He alleges in the 12-page complaint filed in state court that this was intentional, noting that “Yelp was candid that politics were the motivation for this discrepancy.”
According to the lawsuit, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said the company would fight back after the Supreme Court overturned the national right to abortion in its ruling last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which sent abortion back to state legislatures.
After that ruling, Texas and other conservative-led states have passed laws to limit access to abortion services. In Texas, abortion is illegal except to save the pregnant woman’s life.
“We need more business leaders to use their platform and influence to help ensure that reproductive rights are codified into law,” Mr. Stoppelman said, according to the Texas lawsuit.
A representative for Yelp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Yelp cannot mislead and deceive the public simply because the company disagrees with our state’s abortion laws,” Mr. Paxton said. “Major companies cannot abuse their platforms and influence to control consumers’ behavior, especially on sensitive health issues like pregnancy and abortion.”
At issue in the lawsuit is Section 17.46(a) of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices law, which says a company can’t cause confusion or misunderstanding for consumers or disparage goods or services.
The state’s lawsuit also cites a 2020 study that showed pregnancy resource centers served 1.8 million people in 2019 and another 2019 study that revealed medical professionals accounted for 25% of the surveyed centers’ staff.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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