Pennsylvania Cuts Off Anti-Abortion Organization Investigated by CfA
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** CfA's August 11, 2023 Newsletter
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With your support, Campaign for Accountability is working to expose corruption and hold the powerful accountable.
** This Week's Updates:
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Pennsylvania Ends Contract with Anti-Abortion Organization Investigated by CfA
A sponsored link to The Women’s Care Center in York, Pennsylvania appears at the top of Google results for “York PA reproductive care.” Unlike York’s Planned Parenthood, though, The Women’s Care Center does not provide information about contraception – it also doesn’t provide abortions, women’s health screenings, or sexual health care. In reality, it’s an anti-abortion clinic that receives funding through Real Alternatives (RA), the sole administrator of Pennsylvania’s Alternative to Abortion Services Program (AASP). Between 2012 and 2017, RA received more than $30 million in taxpayer dollars to fund these operations.
In 2020, CfA called on Pennsylvania officials ([link removed]) to terminate the state’s contract with RA, after analyzing thousands of pages of records which revealed serious problems with the organization. On top of its failure to provide adequate pregnancy care, or even allow its clinics to discuss contraception with clients, RA was skimming money from its providers and misappropriating public funds for its own benefit. Now, three years later, PA Governor Josh Shapiro has ended ([link removed]) the flow of taxpayer money to RA and its anti-abortion centers. Instead, the state’s Department of Health Services will soon begin accepting applications for women’s health service programs that
provide truly comprehensive care.
Meta Still Calling the Shots on Direction of Research
On Wednesday, Meta cheered the release of yet another paper that appeared to cast doubt on the relationship between Facebook use and negative mental health outcomes. Like the studies published last week, this analysis was produced using data that Meta willingly handed over to researchers – a “home court advantage” that naturally favors Meta itself. The paper, which was written by two researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, concludes that concerns with Facebook’s mental health impacts have been overblown, and that Facebook use may even be related to positive mental wellbeing. Professor Andrew Przybylski, who was one of the report’s authors, previously called on Meta ([link removed]) to allow researchers more access to data related to children’s mental health. Several days after his letter was published, Pryzbylski told Business Insider
([link removed]) that he didn’t believe Meta’s leaked studies on the negative relationship between Instagram use and teen girls’ mental health were a “smoking gun” that should be taken seriously by experts.
Meta’s decision to release data to a behavioral psychologist who had already questioned the connection between mental wellbeing and social media use illustrates the core issue with this approach to research. The Oxford Internet Institute, furthermore, has received funding ([link removed]) from Meta and has been criticized for failing to disclose ([link removed]) financial relationships between its researchers and tech companies. In that same piece ([link removed]) , a former “academic outreach officer” for Google described how large tech companies, including Meta, would dedicated resources to courting academics and building relationships with research institutions. Simply put, tech companies can pick and
choose which data goes to which experts – hardly a recipe for the type of balanced research that policymakers need to craft substantive regulation.
Media Companies Call for AI Regulation
The use of AI in journalism is a contentious subject, and this week saw a flurry of activity as stakeholders positioned themselves on the issue. On Wednesday, nine major media companies – including Gannett and The Associated Press – signed a letter ([link removed]) calling on lawmakers to pass AI regulations that protect the media industry’s intellectual property rights and the information ecosystem more broadly. Several days earlier, The New York Times quietly updated ([link removed]) its terms of service to forbid third parties from scraping its content, declaring that the training of machine learning or AI systems constituted a commercial use of its website and services. Amidst this hardening of traditional media companies against generative technology, Sam Altman’s OpenAI has been funneling money
([link removed]) to journalism initiatives, and most recently donated ([link removed]) $395,000 to New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. These handouts likely won’t be enough to appease traditional media outlets, which have already been burned ([link removed]) by Meta’s exit from journalism initiatives. Now, it seems that publishers are either entering licensing deals ([link removed]) with AI companies or attempting to lock down their intellectual property.
What We're Reading
New fundraising tactics raise campaign finance concerns ([link removed])
“Betsy DeVos Was a Disaster. I Think Erika Donalds Could Be Worse.” ([link removed])
Banks Face Stepped-Up Scrutiny From Fed Over Crypto Activities ([link removed])
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We thank you for your continued support. Without people like you, our work would not be possible.
Here is how you can stay involved and help us accomplish our mission:
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Be on the lookout for more updates about our work in the upcoming weeks. Thanks again for signing up to be a part of CfA!
Sincerely,
Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability
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