Yelp finds itself in the position of having to sue the Texas Attorney General for the right to publish accurate information about crisis pregnancy centers. (CPC)
CPCs are phony clinics that exist to lure people looking for abortions in in order to change their minds and to run out the clocks on the procedures.
It appears that Texas AG Ken Paxton, yeah, that Ken Paxton, has taken exception to Yelp notifying its users that, PCCs do not provide abortions, (true) that they do not provide much in the way of medical services, (true) and that they are not typically staffed with medical professionals. (True)
Paxton has threatened to sue Yelp because it is telling the truth, and Yelp has filed suit in response:
Yelp has sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to prevent him from punishing the reviews website for labeling Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) as places that do not actually offer abortion services.
In a complaint [PDF] filed on Wednesday in a San Francisco federal court, Yelp said it is seeking an order prohibiting the Texas AG from threatening the biz over exercising its First Amendment right to free speech.
"On September 26, we received a letter from the Office of the Attorney General of Texas informing us that they intend to sue Yelp over the consumer notice that we place on the Yelp pages of crisis pregnancy centers," it told The Register.
"The letter takes issue with a consumer notice that hasn’t been used on the Yelp site for over six months, won’t be used again, and which was helpful in informing consumers about crisis pregnancy centers."
The current notice Yelp attaches to CPCs is by Paxton's own admission "accurate." And as it argues in its complaint, "The Attorney General may not punish Yelp for publishing truthful information."
………
Yelp, following the US Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, said in August 2022 that it would label CPCs listed on its website with a consumer notice explaining that they are not clinics and would recategorize its business pages to clarify the distinction.
"Yelp learned that some crisis pregnancy centers – businesses that offer pregnancy-related counseling, but not abortion services or referrals to abortion providers – were leading users seeking abortion care away from medical providers to anti-abortion counseling services," the complaint explains.
"Beginning in August 2022, Yelp published a notice informing consumers that crisis pregnancy centers 'typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.'"
On February 7 Yelp received a letter [PDF] from 24 State AGs that accused the company of a scheme "to discredit crisis pregnancy centers and to discourage women and families from accessing their services." And the letter argued that Yelp's statement was overly broad, misleading, and discriminatory.
Even if what Paxton said was true, and it is not, it is not the role of the state to file what amounts to defamation lawsuit. That would be the role of those organizations who felt that they were defamed, either individually or through some sort of professional organization.
It is a clear abuse of power by the AG, but that is not enough for the polity of Texas to get rid of him.
Neither is taking bribes, or securities fraud, as the failed attempt to impeach him indicated.
I'd like to give it back to Mexico, but I don't think that Mexico would want it back.
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