The strategy of using abortion-related keywords to send a woman searching the web for abortion information to a nearby crisis pregnancy center is already a few years old. But the scheme only received real national attention a couple of months ago, when Siri, Apple’s new voice-activated search assistant, was caught sending women looking for abortion clinics to centers that specialize in talking women out of abortions.

Apple refuted accusations of an anti-abortion agenda, instead blaming the “glitch” on search engines like Google and user-generated guides like Yelp, from which Siri largely extracts its information.

Apple’s explanation matched claims made by anti-abortion rights groups, whose websites describe in detail how they use keywords and Google ads to direct abortion seekers to a central website called Option Line, whose primary function is to route people to one of the thousands of crisis pregnancy centers throughout the country.

The Siri scandal sent The American Independent on a search for evidence that anti-abortion activists are successfully thwarting abortion searches on the Web. We found that CPCs have a minor presence online, but what’s telling is not so much the quantity of CPC ads that appeared on each front-page Google search, but the subtle, universal messaging these sites use.

In many cases, the presence of an anti-abortion agenda is masked.

Searching ‘abortion’

Like most businesses trying to boost their visibility on Google, anti-abortion pregnancy centers buy ads through Google’s AdWords program. But at the heart of the strategy appears to be CPC websites that not only share a universal message, but also a universal Web design.

Using various Google search approaches – “abortion,” “abortion services” “how can I get an abortion,” “I need an abortion” – TAI discovered at least one ad or entry that was linked to Option Line or to Option Line-created software on each primary search page.

These pages often also included two or three entries for individual crisis pregnancy centers or anti-abortion websites. One search result turned up a list of “abortion services” in the D.C. area that included anti-abortion pregnancy centers.

A Google ad that popped up frequently during our searches is “Thinking of Abortion?” whose URL is listed as assistcpc.org. The ad links to the website for Assist Pregnancy Center, a CPC in Annandale, Va. At the very bottom of the website is a note: “Website created by Optionline e-Xtend.” This links to Option Line Extend, a website development program that provides pregnancy centers with “a professional Internet presence.”

Another Google ad titled “Abortion Stories” links to the website standupgirl.com, whose domain is owned by Oregon Right to Life. The site is mainly devoted to promoting pregnancy and hosts an Option Line chat service on its homepage.

Option Line is a 24/7 live-operator contact center headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, which fields inquiries from people seeking information about abortion and pregnancy. It has a Spanish-only version at estasembarazada.com, staffed by bilingual consultants.

Option Line was co-founded in 2003 by Care Net and Heartbeat International, two of the three largest CPC networks in the U.S. About half of the more than 4,000 centers across the country are affiliated with one of these two networks.

In 2007, Option Line created Option Line Extend to sell to centers affiliated with either Care Net or Heartbeat International. CPCs are charged $150 for “basic websites,” $300 for “premium websites” and $500 for “ministry websites.”

Care Net, which made about $7 million in revenue in 2010, reported spending $600,000 on Option Line. Heartbeat International, which reported making about $1.4 million in revenue (PDF) in 2010, reported spending about 46 percent of its budget on its Option Line program between October 2010 and September 2011.

The Option Line Extend model websites are designed with calm colors and messaging, a departure from anti-abortion websites like AbortionNO.org (whose domain is owned by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform), which links directly to a graphic video of a fetus being aborted.

Aside from live-chats and directions to the closest CPC, Option Line offers answers to questions about abortion, birth control and emergency contraception.

In an answer to the question, “Should I take the morning-after pill?” Option Line replies:

Many times women panic after having unprotected sex and rush to take the morning-after pill (Plan B One Step® or Next Choice®). However, you can only become pregnant on certain days of the month — around the time that you ovulate. Taking the morning-after pill during a time when you cannot become pregnant needlessly exposes you to large doses of hormones.

If you are already pregnant from an earlier sexual encounter, taking the morning-after pill is of no value and may cause harm6^, 7. To find out if you are pregnant, contact us, and we’ll connect you with a caring, qualified pregnancy center near you.

Questions about abortion are answered in similarly sober tones. Potential risks from abortion — often overstated by anti-abortion activists and CPC counselors — are stated here as what they are, potential risks. For example, while activists often argue that abortion is a direct cause of breast cancer, here the link is presented as uncertain. Option Line is also careful about putting disclaimers at the bottom of some of its pages, stating that its centers do not offer certain services, but this message is does not always appear on individual center sites.

Creating diversions on the Internet

According to a recently released updated report (PDF) on crisis pregnancy centers produced by the Family Research Council, Option Line averages about 1 million visitors per year and makes about 20,000 contracts per month, with media partners such as Heroic Media and Online for Life.

Last September, The American Independent reported that Heroic Media, an anti-abortion media group headquartered in Austin, Texas, was employing what’s known in the industry as “landing pages” or “doorway pages,” which Google defines as “poor-quality pages where each page is optimized for a specific keyword or phrase … written to rank a particular phrase and then funnel users to a single destination.”

The single destination where Heroic Media was trying to funnel users was Option Line’s homepage. Heroic Media’s parent company, Majella Cares, registered the Web domain freepreghelpline.com, which, when clicked on, goes to optionline.org/get-help.

Heroic Media discussed this strategy on its website when the Independent first reported the story.

This was an excerpt that we recorded from this page:

Internet keyword advertising is targeted and measureable. We can reach scared, abortion-vulnerable women with life-affirming messages and monitor effectiveness by the number of views, clicks, and visits to our site. We recently launched a new landing page at www.freepreghelpline.com to optimize reporting on just how many women are connected with life-affirming resources.

Keyword advertising on Google is also extremely cost-effective because you only pay for clicks, which cost an average of less than three dollars. That’s three dollars to connect abortion-vulnerable women with life-affirming information and people who can help.

A recent screenshot of the same web page we excerpted back in September shows that Heroic Media deleted the paragraph about freepreghelpline.com (also, the alleged amount of monthly “abortion” searches has jumped from 2 million to 6 million):

Screenshot from HeroicMedia.org, click to enlarge.

When asked if the organization is still using landing pages, Heroic Media spokesperson Marissa Gabrysch said the organization never used them.

“That’s inaccurate, although I understand why it was confusing,” Gabrysch told TAI in an email when asked about the doorway pages. “I have made the clarification on our website. Heroic Media’s keyword ads for Option Line link directly to optionline.org.

“The freepreghelpline.com site has not been advertised through keyword ads,” she continued.

Photo: Personhood USA co-founder Keith Mason (Photo: personhoodusa.com)

Via OneNewsNow:

The group submitted language for the proposal to Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who rejected it on the basis of it being too vague. Personhood spokesman Keith Riley says that was no shock.

“They discussed several pro-life bills in the Arkansas legislature last year and he [McDaniel] sent somebody from his office to testify in opposition to every single one of them,” says Riley. “So, he’s been described in media circles as blatantly pro-abortion.”

Personhood Arkansas remains undeterred by the decision, and plans to submit a rewritten measure. Should the rewritten version be rejected, the group says it intends to file a lawsuit challenging the decision.

“Well, the next step is, we’re going to go ahead and re-file,” Riley told OneNewsNow. “The Personhood Arkansas group is trying to adopt as many of his recommendations as possible, and basically at this point we’re anticipating a second rejection of the language and what we’ll do then is file a lawsuit to challenge that second rejection.”

In October, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine rejected his state’s personhood initiative, after determining that a summary of the initiative was not “fair and truthful.” Supporters of the amendment addressed those concerns by adding language to clarify that the proposal would neither restrict the use of contraception nor affect in-vitro fertilization and, on Dec. 30, DeWine certified the rewritten ballot language.

With the beginning of session only days away, Florida legislators have been busy filing a slew of anti-abortion bills. Add yet another to the list: a measure outlawing race- and gender-based abortions. The bill was filed by state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood.

House Bill 1327, or the “Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity for Life Act,” would make it a crime to have an abortion “that it is sought based on sex or race of child or race of parent of that child.” A similar bill was filed in the U.S. House by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., last month and became law in Arizona last year.

According to a summary of the bill, it:

• Requires person performing termination to first sign affidavit stating that he or she is not performing termination because of child’s sex or race and has no knowledge that pregnancy being terminated is because of child’s sex or race;
• Prohibits performing or inducing termination knowing that it is sought based on sex or race of child or race of parent of that child, using force or threat of force to intentionally injure or intimidate any person for purpose of coercing sex-selection or race-selection termination, and soliciting or accepting moneys to finance sex-selection or race-selection termination;
• Provides for injunctions;
• Provides for civil actions by certain persons; authorizes civil fines against physicians & other health professionals who knowingly fail to report known violations; provides that woman on whom sex-selection or race-selection termination is performed is not subject to criminal prosecution or civil liability.

Plakon says he did not file the bill to address any “Florida-specific” problem, but rather to address a “creeping problem” with gender- and race-based abortions worldwide. He says “we shouldn’t wait” until there is a rampant problem in order to address this.

“This is wrong,” he says. “We need to make sure this doesn’t creep into Florida from other countries.”

Plakon does, however, concede that it is hard to prove that gender- or race-based abortions are happening “on a micro-level,” which would make this law somewhat hard to enforce unless a woman were to mention the reasoning behind her abortion.

“If she volunteers that information,” Plakon says, “it would put the burden on the abortionist to not provide the abortion.”

There is no denying this is happening worldwide, Plakon says. “And you could argue that this country is a safe haven for this sort of thing.”

“At least we are doing something,” he says.

Reproductive rights and justice activists have long condemned bills like Plakon’s since Frank first introduced his measure the same week President Obama was elected.

Loretta Ross, the president of SisterSong — a reproductive justice collective for women of color — says there is no evidence that supports the need for such a bill. She believes these bills are a “blatant attempt for southern Republicans to look like they are champions of racial justice,” while they actually attacking women’s rights.

“The question to ask would be: Do you champion [racial minorities and women] once they are here?” Loretta says.

This sort of legislation has been the result of a concerted effort among anti-abortion activists to link abortion to racist aims. Groups have been touting the “black genocide” conspiracy in an effort to convince African-American communities to oppose abortion. In some cases, these arguments have taken root in the African-American community.

Ross says that painting women as propagators of genocide in this way is an “attack on women’s dignity.”

“Ultimately,” Ross says, “this shows contempt for women.”

As of now, the Legislature has filed eight anti-abortion/reproductive rights bill for the session starting next week — nine if/when this bill picks up a Senate sponsor.

“The 92 new abortion restrictions enacted in 2011,” Guttmacher reports, “shattered the previous record of 34 adopted in 2005.”

Included in the list of common restrictions enacted this past year were: bans, waiting periods, ultrasound laws, insurance coverage bans, clinic regulations and medical abortion restrictions.

Florida, among the 24 states where the majority of the anti-abortion measures were enacted, passed both an ultrasound law and an insurance-coverage ban for abortions in plans created through the health care reform law. The state also made it onto a list for cutting deeply into the state budget for family-planning services — an investment states make to reduce unwanted pregnancies that can result in abortions.

Already this year, the Florida Legislature has introduced seven anti-abortion/reproductive rights bills for the session starting next week.

Bobby Joe Rogers (Photo: escambiaso.com)

Police announced on Thursday that they have made an arrest following a fire at a Pensacola area abortion clinic early Sunday morning.

After a joint investigation involving the Division of State Fire Marshal’s Bureau of Fire and Arson Investigations and other members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, officers determined that Bobby Joe Rogers of Tuscaloosa, Ala., set fire to the clinic, causing approximately $300,000 in damage.

The same clinic has been the site of numerous protests and controversies for nearly 30 years. In fact, the American Family Planning Clinic was also the site of a 1984 bombing and the 1994 murder of abortion practitioner Dr. John Britton.

The doctor, along with a volunteer who escorted patients to and from the clinic, were shot to death as they arrived at the clinic in July 1994. At the time, the clinic was known as the Pensacola Ladies Center. The gunman, Paul Hill, was executed in 2003.

On Christmas Eve 1984, two 21-year-old men placed a bomb in a crawl space beneath the bottom floor of the center. The men also detonated bombs at two other Florida abortion clinics on the same night. The fiancée of one of the men later explained to reporters that the bombs were to be “a gift to Jesus on His birthday.”

Last year’s legislative session saw numerous bills targeting abortion in the state, and this year likely won’t be much different. When lawmakers reconvene next week to begin their annual session, they’ll find no less than seven bills dealing with abortion.

No one was hurt during the Sunday morning fire, which began around 1 a.m.; a preliminary investigation found that the fire began outside the clinic.

According to a press release, “members of the community came forward with information that ultimately led to the arrest of Rogers, who is being held at the Escambia County Jail pending a federal indictment by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.” Rogers could face up to 20 years in prison.

Photo: Personhood USA co-founder Keith Mason (Photo: personhoodusa.com)

Arkansas is among several states to face “fetal personhood” amendments in 2012. Personhood Arkansas, an affiliate of Personhood USA, recently submitted amendment language to the state that would define life as beginning at the moment of conception.

“No innocent person shall be denied the right to life,” reads the amendment. “With respect to the right to life, the word ‘person’ shall apply to all human beings, including the unborn, at every stage of their development.”

Though these personhood bills have cropped up across the country, many have failed due to vague language — most recently in Mississippi. Simply defining life from the moment of conception could leave the door open to unintended consequences. In addition to outlawing abortion, say critics, the bills could ban birth control and affect in vitro fertilization and disease research.

Last month, a Nevada judge rewrote his state’s personhood initiative, ruling that it was too vague. The Arkansas group says it has included language intended to specify what, exactly, the bill would affect. According to a press release, the Arkansas Personhood Amendment language “clarifies the pro-life position and the true effect of personhood in that mothers will continue to have access to life saving medical treatments” and specifically states: “This Amendment shall have no effect on medical treatment for life threatening physical conditions intended to preserve life.”

“We witnessed the misinformation tactics used by those who would continue the abortion carnage. Personhood Arkansas has submitted language that is concise and effective in our goals, and it addresses important concerns Arkansas voters may have,” said Personhood Arkansas Director Preston Dunn Jr., in a press release.

Florida Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka (Photo: myfloridahouse.gov/Meredith Geddings)

Last week, Florida state Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, followed through on his announcement that he would bring back a bill that bans abortion in the state of Florida, providing only an exception to save the life of the mother. Van Zant’s bill would make performing an abortion a felony.

House Bill 1151 would create the “Florida for Life Act,” a law that would essentially outlaw all abortions in direct defiance of legal abortion rights in the U.S.

According to a summary, the bill would prohibit “induced abortions,” the operation of a facility that provides abortions, the termination of any pregnancy “unless specified conditions are met.”

Van Zant’s bill (.pdf) states that “the Legislature acknowledges that all persons are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that first among these is their right to life.”

The bill does not provide exceptions for rape or incest, either. It only provides an exception for a woman who is facing a threat to her life if she carries out a pregnancy. According to the bill, “woman’s life is a superior consideration to the concern for the life of the fetus and the woman’s health is a superior consideration to the concern for the health of the fetus when such life or health concerns are in conflict.”

According to the bill:

A termination of pregnancy may not be performed unless:

(a) Two physicians certify in writing to the fact that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the termination of pregnancy is necessary to prevent the death of the patient;

(b) Two physicians certify in writing to the fact that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the termination of pregnancy is necessary because to continue the pregnancy would unreasonably reduce the likelihood of successful treatment of a life-threatening disease of the patient; or

(c) A physician certifies in writing that a medical emergency existed and another physician was not available for consultation prior to the time necessary to perform the termination of pregnancy. The physician’s written certification must clearly describe the medical emergency.

The bill also requires that “physicians and personnel at a medical facility … provide certain women and minors who have been treated by the facility with information regarding adoption and a statewide list of attorneys available to provide volunteer legal services for adoption.”

Van Zant, an ordained Baptist minister, has unsuccessfully introduced a similar bill multiple times. This past October, he told Creative Loafing he would be introducing the bill again.

The Legislature has already introduced a bill written by the Florida Catholic Conference that would redefine the death of a “viable fetus” as the death of an “unborn child.” The bill would also change laws for vehicular manslaughter involving a pregnant woman.

Another bill introduced by state Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, would restrict “the circumstances in which an abortion may be performed in the third trimester or after viability.” Flores’ bill also pushes forward a handful of anti-abortion measures that did not make it through last session, including targeted laws for abortion providers and a waiting period for women seeking an abortion.

Early last month, state Rep. Daniel Davis, R-Jacksonville, introduced a “fetal pain” bill that would outlaw abortions after 20 weeks.

Van Zant’s proposal brings the running count of anti-abortion/reproductive rights bill to seven for the 2012 session. During last year’s session, 18 such bills were introduced.

Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, has introduce the Senate version of Van Zant’s abortion ban.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey (Photo: Facebook)

Florida state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has filed a bill for the upcoming session that would make January 2012 ”Pregnancy Resource Center Month.”

Pregnancy resource centers are also referred to as crisis pregnancy centers. Crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, are mostly religious centers aimed at dissuading women from having an abortion. Some Florida centers have been found to distribute inaccurate medical information about abortion to women seeking help.

Senate Resolution 1326 would commend “the compassionate work of the volunteers and staff at Florida’s pregnancy resource centers.” The bill would celebrate CPCs providing ”important support and resources for women who choose childbirth over abortion,” the bill says.

If passed, the measure would be another item in the list of ways the Legislature has shown its support for CPCs through the years. Last year, the state’s CPC network received $2 million in taxpayer funds — a fixed amount it has received each of the past six years. The state Legislature does not, however, set aside funding for groups that prevent unplanned pregnancies and help women facing crises such as Planned Parenthood. Those clinics instead receive some family planning dollars that are given to local governments. However, that amount was cut by almost $1 million last year. One Planned Parenthood affiliate lost thousands of dollars for teen sexual health programs servicing young people in Palm Beach County this year because of the cut.

While CPCs did not lose a dime last year, Florida health services saw deep cuts to state funding.

Groups such as Planned Parenthood and Healthy Start, which are not religiously based and yet provide similar services to CPCs, serve more patients and offer more services.

Fasano’s bill (.pdf) also states that “the Florida Senate disapproves of the actions of any national, state, or local groups attempting to prevent pregnancy resource centers from effectively serving women and men facing unplanned pregnancies.”

The group’s Amendment 26, which would have defined life as beginning at the moment of conception, was harshly criticized for being broad and vague. Though Personhood leaders claim they only intend to ban abortion, critics have argued that personhood measures could have negative effects on the use of birth control, in vitro fertilization and disease research.

Because the measure is so controversial (even in Mississippi, a state with only one abortion clinic), lawmakers have said that it might stand a better chance in the Legislature. Nearly 60 percent of Mississippi voters voted against the amendment, despite support from Gov. Haley Barbour and Governor-elect Phil Bryant.

In November, Barbour said that the state Legislature would have been a better place for the bill, as lawmakers could have corrected some of the ambiguities “If somebody had offered legislation in the Mississippi Legislature that says life begins at conception, that would pass,” said Barbour. “However, what has been put on the ballot is a little ambiguous.”

Bryant was recently quoted in USA Today as saying he would be “very surprised if a member of the Legislature didn’t introduce some legislation similar to [Amendment 26].”

Personhood USA’s Les Riley says his group plans to work closely with the Legislature, in an attempt to introduce a personhood bill through a different channel. “We’re going to work with the Legislature and reach out to Mississippians,” Riley told USA Today.

Personhood’s Florida affiliate failed to gather enough signatures for placement on the state’s 2010 ballot, but has already begun a new push, aiming for placement on the 2014 ballot.

A screenshot of the "Ignite" brochure (Photo: flfamily.org)

The leader of a politically influential Florida group that frequently advocates against LGBT and abortion rights has issued a new fundraising pitch to help gin up support for the work of its “Ignite an Enduring Cultural Transformation” campaign during the Sunshine State’s upcoming legislative session.

In May, The American Independent’s Andy Birkey reported that the Florida Family Policy Council was one of a network of organizations dedicated to raising money through the “Ignite” program to “pass anti-gay marriage amendments, curtail abortion rights and, in at least one case, ban ‘transgender bathrooms.’”

According to a Policy Council campaign brochure (PDF) that has been circulating since the campaign was announced more than a year ago, “Ignite” will champion “Biblically-Based Beliefs” in the state capitol during the upcoming legislative session.

These “beliefs” include:

Moral, physical and spiritual absolutes exist and were given to mankind to govern all of life. The sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman is the essential element of the family and a strong family is the essential element of a strong society. Life is a gift from God and should be protected from the time of conception to the end of natural life. First Amendment religious liberties are critical to our freedom as a people and must be protected and defended.

“Achieving transformation requires a lasting and enduring movement working strategically in key, cultural-defining areas,” the brochure claims. “‘Ignite’ is a two-year plan designed to fan the embers of November 2010 into a lasting movement built to achieve enduring cultural transformation.”

Florida Family Policy Council President John Stemberger (Photo: Flickr/Gage Skidmore)

According to a new fundraising pitch from Policy Council President John Stemberger, the campaign is meant to defeat what he calls “radical organizations like MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood, American Atheists, and the ACLU.” He claims those groups “are doing everything they can to force through their liberal agenda.”

“Our opponents are preparing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 12 months to advance their radical agenda in Florida and across the country,” he writes.

Among the goals listed on the campaign brochure are:

Education – Preparing Leaders:

• 1,000 worldview training attendees.
• 700 pastors equipped at briefings.
• 5,000 couples trained as marriage mentors
• 100 student leaders networked and engaged
• 65 legislators briefed and informed on issues

Legislation – Promoting Values:

• Continue Tallahassee Office and Staff
• Pass Ultrasound Option before Abortion
• Pass Marriage Strengthening Initiatives
• Defeat Radical Homosexual Agenda

Providing Accountability:

• Distribute 3 million voter guides.
• Reach 5 million values voters.
• Engage 3,000 pastors and churches

The group has already begun reaching out to religious voters. In November, Stemberger started “Project Active Citizen” to get as many religious voters to the polls as possible. In an email to supporters asking for donations to the project, he described it as “an effort … to help encourage thousands of pro-life and pro-family Floridians to register to vote.”

Stemberger has also already begun to distribute voter guides specifically geared towards pastors and how they can legally influence voters.

Project Active Citizen is just one of a handful campaigns or events that have come on the heels of Stemberger’s involvement in the Florida Renewal Project’s Pastors’ Policy Briefing. The “briefing” was held in order to involve churches and religious leaders in elections. Media outlets were barred from the event and a reporter was even escorted away from a meeting between presidential candidates Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich and pastors. Since the briefing, Stemberger helped lead a religious right get-out-the-vote event that took place in about 100 churches all over the country — including 34 in Florida.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. (Photo: Facebook)

As the Independent’s Birkey reported, Stemberger’s influential group has received big-name endorsements, including one from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who “loaned his name to the Florida Family Policy Council’s Ignite plan, which calls for spending $300,000 to mandate that women view an ultrasound before having an abortion and to ‘defeat the radical homosexual agenda.’”Rubio is quoted in the group’s campaign brochure touting its success. “FFPC’s successes in education, legislation and accountability have made them an indispensable asset in promoting and defending traditional values,” Rubio said, according to the Policy Council.

Birkey reported that the group has “averaged revenues of $384,000 over the last three years.”

Although no new specific legislative goals have been listed by the group, Stemberger writes in his fundraising pitch that the group “has an aggressive plan” for 2012.

“Attacks from those who work to undermine life, marriage, family and religious liberty are more sophisticated, more aggressive, and more frequent than ever,” the “Ignite” brochure says. ”‘We the people’ spoke loud and clear in November of 2010 but that one moment, by itself, will not achieve the cultural transformation we seek.”

Photo: A screenshot of the “Ignite” brochure (flfamily.org)