Gen Z for Change's Latest Action Sparked a Shift in How Yelp Handles Anti-Abortion Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Outside of a crisis pregnancy center called Problem Pregnancy
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When Katie found out she was pregnant at 19, she knew she needed help. But the clinic she first turned to wasn’t what she needed. She says they asked her pointed questions like “are you aware that what you want will kill the baby currently growing inside you?” She remembers them urging her to let them explain the exact process of an abortion (though she says they never used the word) and asking if she would be willing to give the baby up for adoption.

Katie had found herself at a “crisis pregnancy center,” organizations that lure pregnant people seeking abortions in with vague statements, often misleading them about the services available and pressuring them into continuing their pregnancy. Crisis pregnancy centers are often religiously based and largely not licensed or qualified to provide healthcare. Through coercion and misleading information, they try to steer people away from abortion. And one of the most insidious parts of these centers is that they often seem like legitimate reproductive health clinics.

 But Gen Z for Change, the youth-led nonprofit organization, is aiming to change the experience  pregnant people have of looking for reproductive healthcare and ending up in a crisis pregnancy center. The group led an action against the clinics that contributed to Yelp adding a warning to reviews for the centers that reads “This is a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Crisis Pregnancy Centers typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.”

Sean Wiggs, a 21-year-old coder behind many of Gen Z for Change’s most successful actions from spamming anti-abortion tiplines to flooding a job site with applications in an effort to help prevent union-busting, said the idea started percolating right after the leaked Supreme Court opinion that signaled the end of Roe v. Wade. Sean used his coding prowess to create a bot that sent automatic reviews to crisis pregnancy centers on Yelp to warn users of the reality of the centers. 

“We wanted a way for people seeking abortions to know that these centers will not provide you with abortion [services],” Sean said. “And will even go so far as to coerce you to keep the pregnancy to term even if that’s not best for you and your body.”

The action was part of Gen Z for Change’s multi-pronged approach to a post-Roe world, which they called the S.A.F.E.R. initiative. In true Gen Z for Change fashion, the S stands for “spam” — as in spam anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers and anti-abortion tiplines. Spammers were able to choose between several pre-written reviews, one of which read: '''WARNING: This is a Crisis Pregnancy Center. It is a BIASED facility that contains non-licensed employees working to talk you out of abortion and spread misinformation about the procedure.''

Olivia Julianna, a political strategist for Gen Z for Change, said the initiative was created out of a desire to protect pregnant people who might be looking for abortion resources and instead could find themselves being coerced and lied to. “When someone is deciding whether or not they’re going to get an abortion, it can be very difficult,” Olivia said. “Crisis pregnancy centers preying on people’s emotions in a time as sensitive as that is truly despicable to me.”

A GIF of Makayla Montoya Frazier: A closeup of her tattoo that says abortion,  her posing in a white crop top, a head shot.
At 19, Makayla Montoya Frazier needed an abortion. Even in better times, it wasn't an easy journey.

Claire Simon, 16, the initiatives specialist of the organization, says Yelp quickly shut down the ability for users to review crisis pregnancy centers, seemingly in response to the spamming. The initiative was active for almost a week and Gen Z for Change reports that it launched close to 27,000 warning reviews of crisis pregnancy centers before Yelp shut down the ability to review the centers. The Gen Z team was considering their other options when a representative from Yelp reached out to them. Were they interested in a meeting?

At the meeting, Sean says he and his teammates explained why they had launched the initiative. They told the Yelp representative that it “didn’t look good” for the company to shut down reviews on crisis pregnancy centers. According to Sean, the representative seemed to agree and vowed to escalate the issue to higher-ups in the company.

Gen Z for Change wasn’t sure that any action would be taken from the meeting – until Axios reported that Yelp was flagging listings for crisis pregnancy centers with a pop-up that informed searchers that the clinic they were looking at was actually a crisis pregnancy center. A source familiar with the process at Yelp told Teen Vogue that the company had already been considering what to do about the crisis pregnancy centers when the spamming initiative started but that Gen Z for Change’s activism “definitely played a role” in the eventual change.” Luther Lowe, the senior vice president of public policy at Yelp, tweeted that the company appreciated Gen Z for Change raising awareness around the issue of crisis pregnancy centers. “We hope they’ll continue their advocacy until it’s adopted as a standard across the local search industry,” he said in the tweet.

Claire says the victory restored her optimism in a grim time for reproductive health rights. “It’s good to have this as a reminder that progress can be made,” she said. “It gives me hope we can make more change and it tells me that what we’re doing is working and having a real effect.” She’s glad that now, reviewers will be able to have clarity when searching for reproductive resources.

Brynn, who found herself at a crisis pregnancy center a few weeks ago when searching for reproductive healthcare, says the warning would have changed her experience and could have led her to a clinic more suited to her needs. “I was looking to talk to someone about abortion services and help finding counseling or support groups for women who have had an abortion or debated having one,” Brynn said. “Instead I got a 30-minute conversation about adoption.” 

After her visit to the center, she says they called and texted her multiple times, urging her to schedule a follow-up appointment. Eventually, she was able to see a healthcare provider who could help her, though she’s still undecided on what she’s going to do. She lives in a state where abortion is essentially illegal and to access that care, she would have to cross state lines.

And sometimes the tactics used by crisis pregnancy centers are even more overt than just long talks. Fiona, who visited one when she found herself pregnant as a teenager, says she was offered diapers and formula and told she would be a great mother. She says she was shown small plastic figures meant to represent fetuses at different growth stages. They asked for her contact information as she left and she gave them a fake name then found a reproductive health clinic that actually provided abortion care.

With Yelp flagging listings for crisis pregnancy centers, Olivia says she’s comforted that there’s an additional layer of protection for people who are seeking reproductive healthcare. She and Claire and Sean and the rest of the Gen Z for Change organization are finding hope in their actions leading to concrete change. “We’re just a bunch of young people trying our best,” Sean said. “So for steps to actually be taken is great.”

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