{"id":213450,"date":"2019-11-03T16:41:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-03T22:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=213450"},"modified":"2019-11-02T18:41:51","modified_gmt":"2019-11-02T23:41:51","slug":"pregnancy-help-orgs-mislabeled-yelp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pregnancy-help-orgs-mislabeled-yelp\/","title":{"rendered":"Pregnancy help orgs cry foul over being mislabeled in Yelp listing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Pregnancy Help News<\/a>)\u00a0An association of California pregnancy centers and clinics is taking issue with a change by business directory service Yelp that withdrew the centers\u2019 ability to categorize their organization on the site and grouped them all together under a faith-based classification – whether applicable or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like what Yelp has done is tried to classify us as religious crisis pregnancy centers,\u201d California Alliance for Pregnancy Care (CAPC) President Josh McClure said. \u201cIt just isn\u2019t appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CAPC has written Yelp a letter requesting that the restriction of the centers\u2019 choice to categorize themselves be lifted and explaining that the \u201cFaith Based Crisis Pregnancy Centers\u201d label is inaccurate, insufficient and unnecessary.<\/b><\/p>\n

McClure told Pregnancy Help News<\/em> the letter was needed, because Yelp does not have a published customer service protocol, leaving customers with a hurdle to face in having their issues addressed. As of press time the CAPC had not received a response from Yelp to its letter.<\/p>\n

Pregnancy Help News<\/em> inquired with Yelp about its withdrawal of the choice for California\u2019s pregnancy centers and clinics to classify themselves and Yelp\u2019s categorizing them all as \u201cFaith Based Crisis Pregnancy Centers,\u201d and did not hear back.<\/p>\n

A CAPC member first noticed the change in its Yelp classification, and then contacted CAPC leadership, after which it was noticed that this was much more widespread among the Alliance\u2019s membership.<\/p>\n

Yelp did respond to one CAPC member concerning the categorization of its center after the center director took notable issue with the change in the comment section of the edit feature of the Yelp business page.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m appalled that you’ve changed our business to a ‘Faith Based Pregnancy Crisis Center,’\u201d Cary Wilcox, executive director of Sierra Pregnancy + Health wrote. \u201cI’m formally requesting that you remove this back to a medical clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a CA State licensed medical clinic that offers patient first care by providing pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, along with resources in the community,\u201d Wilcox told Yelp, including the CAPC letter. \u201cPlease see attached letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Former abortion workers speak: The abortion industry sees pregnancy centers as competition<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wilcox heard back from Ian MacBean, Yelp’s Director of User Operations and Ombudsman. MacBean said there had never been a medical clinic designation and offered to add the medical center category back to Sierra\u2019s page but declined the request to remove the \u201cfaith-based\u201d designation because Sierra identifies itself as such on its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will moderate additional category suggestions as we do with all suggested edits to business information,\u201d MacBean said, \u201cbut do not intend to remove this categorization from the page.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilcox explained that the center provides care because of being faith-based, however adherence to any faith is not a prerequisite to receiving care. She examined as well that \u201ccrisis pregnancy center\u201d is a 40-year-old outdated term, and that there is a difference between centers that classify as medical clinics and those that are resource centers.<\/p>\n

At some point Wilcox later noticed she could update her category again, but then saw later it had been switched back. She noticed as well that other centers did not have correct designations.<\/p>\n

She told Pregnancy Help News<\/em> will be checking the category daily going forward.<\/p>\n

“While Yelp responded to our request, it appears that Yelp needs to consider re-evaluating the term “Crisis Pregnancy Center,” as it is quite dated and not fitting to those seeking care,\u201d Wilcox said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen pregnancy centers were initially launched, they were resource centers bent on preventing abortions to women facing unplanned pregnancy,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cNearly 40 years later, we have redefined them as “Pregnancy Care Clinics” (medical) or “Pregnancy Resource Centers” (non-medical).\u201d<\/p>\n