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This Week's Updates:
Jim Jordan Claims YouTube is “Censoring” Gun Influencers
This week, House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a letter to a law firm representing Alphabet, demanding that the company turn over communications concerning its decision to age-restrict certain types of firearm content on YouTube. The policy in question went into effect earlier this week, and simply requires users to create an account before watching videos featuring 3D-printed guns, automatic weapons, or automatic weapon conversion accessories. Videos featuring semi-automatic weapons, like unmodified pistols or hunting rifles, would not be affected by the policy.
While YouTube never announced a reason for this policy change, the company has faced criticism for its treatment of firearm content. In 2023, CfA’s Tech Transparency Project (TTP) reported that YouTube was recommending firearm videos to children interested in video games, creating a pipeline to increasingly extreme content through its algorithms. The office of New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg eventually cited this research in a letter to YouTube, asking it to enforce its existing policies against videos showing users how to create weapons – including 3D-printed guns. His office also urged YouTube to stop recommending videos featuring firearms and other violent content to children. Now, Jordan is characterizing YouTube’s age-restrictions as “censorship,” despite the fact that users can still view this content by creating a YouTube account and confirming that they are 18 or older. As of this morning, a quick search reveals that YouTube is still failing to completely enforce the policy.
Delaware Lawmakers Pass Crisis Pregnancy Center Transparency Bill
This week, the Delaware Senate passed a bill that would designate anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) as “limited services medical facilities,” to make it clear that these unlicensed and unregulated non-profits are not held to the same standards as actual care providers. Most importantly, CPCs would have to display signs informing consumers that they are not licensed as medical facilities and have no licensed provider on staff. The Baltimore City Council enacted a similar law in 2009, which was ultimately overturned because it compelled CPCs to display information about abortion access. Laws that force CPCs to share information about medical licensing have been more successful; in New York City, CPCs must disclose that they do not provide abortion care or have medical providers on site; actual enforcement of the law is scarce, however. Now, Delaware may be able to build on New York City’s efforts and advance its disclosure bill, finding the elusive margin when corporate free speech ends and consumer protection begins.
In April, CfA sent complaints to the attorneys general of Idaho, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington alleging that CPCs in their states had potentially violated consumer protection laws by telling clients their personal health information was protected under HIPAA. In practice, most CPCs do not bill for their services (which would force them to comply with HIPAA) or operate like real medical facilities.
Republican Lawmakers Push Untested IVF “Alternative”
This week, a coalition of Republican lawmakers introduced a bill called the Reproductive Empowerment and Support through Optimal Restoration (RESTORE) Act, which directs funding to an unproved field of science known as “restorative reproductive medicine” (RRM). As Mother Jones reported this week, RRM was developed by a group of religious medical practitioners seeking an “alternative” to IVF, which the Catholic Church has opposed since the 1980s. Unlike in-vitro fertilization (IVF), RRM is supported by almost no medical evidence, and is only practiced by a small circle of physicians.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly claimed that IVF access is not under threat, despite an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that temporarily halted procedures in the state and an uptick in “embryonic personhood” bills that could criminalize the disposal of IVF-created embryos. The Southern Baptist Convention, which boasts nearly 13 million members, also voted to oppose the use of IVF at its annual meeting last week. When given an opportunity to codify protection for IVF into law, Senate Republicans blocked the bill, and held up the RESTORE Act as an alternative.
