Liberal Debutante

Katie = Livid. A U.S funded health search engine blocked the word “abortion” because they’re crazy christians who think that 4 cells has a soul. It is the largest database on reproductive health and by blocking abortion they have hidden over 250 000 results. They do, however, suggest dancing around the issue and trying to find information on abortion by using terms such as “coat hanger” and “evil baby eating atheists”.

“The main function of their site is keyword search, and if you use a phrase that contains the word ‘abortion,’ it ignores it,” notes Melissa Just, the library director at the cancer research institute and hospital named City of Hope in Duarte, California. Just followed the conversation on a listserv and said she was outraged when she found out about the censorship incident.

“Even if you were trying to make an argument to someone that abortion is a bad idea for them — whether it’s a health risk, or you’re concerned about their mental well being, you wouldn’t be able to find articles about your claim,” she notes. “It’s shutting off both the pro and the con access.”

Here is the e-mail exchange with the librarian who discovered the loss of the term.