Googling for Abortion: Search Engine Mediation of Abortion Accessibility in the United States
Yelena Mejova, Tatiana Gracyk, Ronald E. Robertson

TL;DR
This study evaluates how effectively Google Search directs users to abortion clinics versus crisis pregnancy centers in the US, revealing disparities based on location and legal context, with implications for health access equity.
Contribution
It provides empirical data on Google's search result quality for abortion services, highlighting geographic and legal factors influencing access and the impact of algorithm updates.
Findings
79.4% of location results were abortion clinics
Fewer clinics appeared in poorer and rural areas
Algorithm updates improved search result quality
Abstract
Among the myriad barriers to abortion access, crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) pose an additional difficulty by targeting women with unexpected or "crisis" pregnancies in order to dissuade them from the procedure. Web search engines may prove to be another barrier, being in a powerful position to direct their users to health information, and above all, health services. In this study we ask, to what degree does Google Search provide quality responses to users searching for an abortion provider, specifically in terms of directing them to abortion clinics (ACs) or CPCs. To answer this question, we considered the scenario of a woman searching for abortion services online, and conducted 10 abortion-related queries from 467 locations across the United States once a week for 14 weeks. Overall, among Google's location results that feature businesses alongside a map, 79.4% were ACs, and 6.9% were…
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