Irish pro-life groups accused Google of attempting “to rig the election” this week by banning online ads related to the May 25 abortion vote.
Earlier this week, Google said it no longer will run ads related to the Irish abortion vote on its search site or YouTube. Facebook announced similar plans a day earlier, though with a more limited scope. Only abortion-related ads from groups in Ireland will be allowed ahead of the vote.
Both companies claimed they are concerned about foreign groups influencing the election through ads on their platforms. But pro-life advocates said they have another purpose – helping the pro-abortion side.
“ … one side in this referendum is terrified of losing and wants to prevent voters from being informed,” the Irish pro-life groups Save the 8th, the Pro-Life Campaign and the Iona Institute said in response. “[It’s] scandalous, and it is an attempt to rig the election.”
On May 25, Ireland is scheduled to vote on whether to repeal its Eighth Amendment, which protects unborn babies’ right to life. Abortion activists, backed by some of the world’s richest men, are pushing the pro-life country to legalize abortion on demand.
Pro-lifers estimate that the Eighth Amendment has saved approximately 100,000 unborn babies’ lives from abortion.
If the amendment is repealed, government leaders plan to push a proposal to legalize abortion for any reason up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and later in a broad range of circumstances.
SIGN THE PETITION! Attention Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube: Stop Censoring Pro-Lifers
The National Review reports the decisions by Facebook and Google “disproportionately [harm] pro-life advocates who have relied more heavily than their opponents on digital advertising.”
The Transparent Referendum Initiative, an independent watchdog group, reports most of the online ad purchases came from pro-life groups, including some in the United States, England and Canada.
“Online was the only platform available to the No campaign to speak to voters directly. That platform is now being undermined in order to prevent the public from hearing the message of one side,” the pro-life groups said at a press conference.
Meanwhile, abortion activists – who have benefited more heavily from the liberal news media and other avenues – applauded Google and Facebook for the move, according to National Review.
Facebook and Google have strong biases against the pro-life argument. Their platforms repeatedly have censored and blocked pro-life information while allowing pro-abortion activists to post lies and deceptions freely and openly.
Their timing of the ad bans raises strong questions about bias. It is only two weeks until the election, so why did the two companies wait until now to roll out these new policies? Does it have anything to do with several new polls showing the pro-life side is gaining ground?
There are very real concerns about outside political influence on Irish voters, but the clearest evidence points to underhanded dealings on the pro-abortion side.
The Irish government began asking questions of pro-abortion groups in 2016 after a leaked document from American billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations revealed plans to push Ireland and other pro-life countries to legalize abortion on demand, the Catholic News Agency reported at the time.
One pro-abortion group that received money from Soros agreed to return the donation. However, Amnesty International Ireland, which received €137,000 from the American billionaire, refused.
The donations are illegal under the 1997 Electoral Act, according to the Irish Standards in Public Office Commission, or Sipo.
Soros is one of the richest men in the world. He has given hundreds of millions of dollars to pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.
Two polls this spring show the pro-abortion campaigners are losing ground. Still, support for abortion is higher than opposition. In April, the Business Insider reported 47 percent of Irish voters now say they will vote to repeal the pro-life Eighth Amendment – down 9 points from an earlier poll. According to the poll, 28 percent will vote to retain the pro-life amendment, and 20 percent are undecided.
