Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led the effort to send a letter to Google executive Neal Mohan on Monday regarding labels placed on pro-life videos on the social media platform.

The letter said the notices violate the First Amendment and spread "false" information about abortion that "minimizes and downplays some of the serious risks of abortion drugs," potentially endangering women's lives.

The letter cites an example of a pro-life video on YouTube about chemical abortion posted by Alliance Defending Freedom in February. Under the video, a notice appears with the title "Abortion Health Information." The message says that surgical and chemical abortion are procedures "to end a pregnancy" done "by a licensed health care professional."

Read More

This means YouTube videos about Pope Francis, Catholic teaching on abortion, and alternatives to abortion now include links to abortion information that video creators might reject.

Clare Morell, a policy analyst with the Ethics and Public Policy Center's Technology and Human Flourishing Project, criticized YouTube's addition of the abortion panel.

"It biases viewers against their messaging, to prejudge and dismiss their arguments before they've even heard them," Morell told CNA.

"Adding these disclaimers is clear political bias on the part of YouTube against pro-life groups and messaging," she said.

"Rather than allowing for free speech and debate in today's modern public square, YouTube is preferring one side and position over the other by adding these disclaimers. And attempting to prejudice viewers against the pro-life position."

YouTube claims that abortion is a topic prone to misinformation. The links offer background information from "independent, third-party partners, to give more context on a topic."

The video clip company announced the information panel on July 21, saying that it will remove "content that provides instructions for unsafe abortion methods or promotes false claims about abortion safety."

The affected videos show a "context" box with a link to "abortion health information" in the National Library of Medicine's health information service MedlinePlus.

"An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus," the context box shows beneath affected videos. "The procedure is done by a licensed healthcare professional."

Many pro-life and Catholic news and commentary videos include the YouTube abortion link, including:

• Pope Francis. The panel appears on video news reports about his remarks that compare abortion to hiring a hitman;
• US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. A parish webinar against taxpayer-funded abortion includes the tag;
• Bishop Robert Barron. "Pro-abortion Politicians: Can We Actually Dialogue?" now displays the panel;
• ABC News. A video about Catholic alternatives to abortion has the tag;
• Reuters. A video, "Biden meets Pope, as abortion debate flares," includes the notice.

A YouTube help page said these information panels will be shown "regardless of what opinions or perspectives are expressed in a video."

Morell, however, objected that federal law does not envision internet platforms acting in this capacity.

"In this instance, YouTube is very much acting as an editor or publisher," she said.

"Pro-life groups are left without legal recourse for contesting this editorial interference by YouTube. If YouTube wants to add information to content, then it shouldn't get to have legal immunity for those edits," Morrell said.

Sources

National Catholic Register