Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Thursday in opposition to Yelp, accusing the crowdsourcing assessment platform of deceptive customers about being pregnant useful resource facilities in gentle of its CEO’s pro-choice advocacy.
The lawsuit says Yelp engaged in misleading commerce practices and violated state legislation by posting a client discover on the enterprise accounts of being pregnant useful resource facilities that claims 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, stated Yelp additionally did not take away the assertion when the facilities’ reached out for corrections. He alleges within the 12-page grievance filed in state courtroom 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 stated the corporate would struggle again after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide proper to abortion in its ruling final 12 months in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that despatched the difficulty of abortion again to state legislatures.
After that ruling, Texas and different conservative-led states have handed legal guidelines to restrict entry to abortion providers. In Texas, abortion is against the law besides to save lots of the lifetime of the mom.
“We need more business leaders to use their platform and influence to help ensure that reproductive rights are codified into law,” Mr. Stoppelman stated, in line with the Texas lawsuit.
A consultant for Yelp didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
“Yelp cannot mislead and deceive the public simply because the company disagrees with our state’s abortion laws,” Mr. Paxton stated. “Major companies cannot abuse their platforms and influence to control consumers’ behavior, especially on sensitive health issues like pregnancy and abortion.”
At difficulty within the lawsuit is Section 17.46(a) of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices legislation, which says an organization can’t trigger confusion or misunderstanding for shoppers or disparage items or providers.
The state’s lawsuit additionally cites a 2020 research that confirmed being pregnant useful resource facilities served 1.8 million individuals in 2019 and one other 2019 research that exposed medical professionals accounted for 25% of the surveyed facilities’ workers.
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