SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — An attorney for Yelp accused Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday of attempting to make Yelp comply with Paxton’s personal views on abortion and censor the company’s free speech rights when he sued them in September.
Yelp began labeling crisis pregnancy centers after the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the landmark ruling in which the court held that the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion — upending nearly 50 years of precedent.
Yelp included the disclaimer on the reviews of some crisis pregnancy centers for six months, from August 2022 to February 2023. The notice told users that crisis pregnancy centers “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.”
According to a Paxton’s press release condemning Yelp, the disclaimers “are thinly veiled attempts to discriminate against the centers with information may be false” and “threaten to steer away hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of women and families who could benefit from using the services provided by pregnancy centers across the country.”
Paxton noted that Yelp did not provide the same disclaimer to clinics operated by Planned Parenthood.
He sued Yelp over its labeling of crisis pregnancy centers on its platform. Crisis pregnancy centers are typically nonprofits that attempt to dissuade pregnant women from having an abortion. Yelp also sued Paxton.
In a preliminary injunction hearing, Yelp attorney Ambika Kumar said that the disclaimer is truthful, noncommercial speech that Paxton is seeking to censor.
“I think the attorney general has made it clear that he wants to project his personal views on abortion into other states,” Kumar said. “He sent a letter to a California-based company, demanding that that California-based company censor its own speech to California consumers.”
Kumar said the disclaimer was used so that Yelp's users could make the best possible decision for themselves when seeking reproductive health care. She said that no disclaimer is needed for clinics operated by Planned Parenthood since Planned Parenthood does not mislead people about its purpose.
Kumar told U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson that the case is unprecedented and highly unusual, and accused Paxton of attempting to enforce Texas-style abortion restrictions in states other than his own.
“Attorneys general don’t usually go around trying to enforce their state law outside of their state,” Kumar said.
Kumar noted that its conduct was constitutionally protected and said that part of the reason Paxton is suing is because Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman has made it clear that he supports abortion rights. The suit, Kumar argued, is a bad faith action and Paxton’s way of retaliating against Stoppelman and the company.
Paxton and 23 other attorneys general complained about the crisis pregnancy center disclaimers in a note to Stoppelman in February.
“[Paxton] made it clear it was in response to Yelp’s CEO’s statements on abortion,” Kumar said. “You can’t ignore the politics that have been injected into this issue by the attorney general.”
In response, Thompsons said, “I’m going to take a very close look at the retaliation issue."
Ryan Baasch, counsel for the state of Texas, said that it was “really inaccurate” to say that Paxton is attempting to punish Yelp for its CEO’s personal views. He argued that the suit isn’t about abortion, but about preventing Texas consumers from being misled under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. He asked Thompson to dismiss the case.
“Yelp’s whole message was to convey to consumers whether they should or should not visit these centers. That’s commercial speech,” Baasch said.
Basch told the Joe Biden appointee that Texas law gives the state broad authority to crack down on any conduct that could mislead any Texas consumer.
Kumar fired back. “There’s no evidence of a single consumer who was confused. That is patently bad faith," the Davis Wright Tremaine attorney said.
Baasch suggested that Yelp could change its conduct depending on what state it is in.
“Our position is that Yelp could lawfully treat California entities one way so long as it doesn’t do anything misleading in Texas. The Texas attorney general wouldn’t have a dog in that fight, so to speak.”
Also at issue is the timing of the suit. Yelp changed the disclaimer in February 2023, and Baasch said that Paxton has no problem with the new disclaimer. But he still sued eight months later in August 2023, seeking $10,000 per violation.
The disclaimer currently in use reads: "This is a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Crisis Pregnancy Centers do not offer abortions or referrals to abortion providers."
Thompson said the timing perplexed her, but promised to issue a ruling in the coming weeks.
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