Picture this: A 20-year-old junior in college finds out she’s pregnant after taking a test in her dorm room. She isn’t married or ready for a baby yet. She feels afraid, unsure of what to do or where to go for help. What does she do? She takes out her smartphone and searches via Google: “I just found out I’m pregnant.” What pops up? Planned Parenthood clinics, articles about abortion, and further down the list, something akin to a pro-life message — maybe.
But because of the On-demand Alternatives to Abortion System, a tool which counters Planned Parenthood’s advertising efforts, an ad now pops up for the nearest pro-life clinic. This meets women right where they’re at, at the moment where they’re desperately seeking information, trying to make a decision, using the internet the way this generation often does.
OAASYS ads are sponsored by individuals through partnership with Texas-based Heroic Media.
In an interview with Pro-Life Magazine, Brett Attebery, Executive Vice President and COO at Heroic Media, explained how it works. “OAASYS places ‘Emergency Response’ sponsored ads in Google’s search results when a woman facing an unexpected pregnancy does a search for information about how to get an abortion. If a woman responds to the ad placed by OAASYS, she will have the opportunity to connect and make an appointment with one of Heroic Media’s carefully selected Pregnancy Help Center partners. If she follows through on that opportunity and visits the PHC, she will be embraced with compassionate care by center team members who are committed to quelling whatever fear is causing her to want an abortion.”
Once women click on the sponsored ad, a one-page website appears showing information that invites her to make an appointment with Pregnancy Help Center partner in her area. Due to its configuration, OAASYS always places an ad in the highest position possible on the search results page, often in competition with Planned Parenthood, which usually retains the first or second spot due to its incredible funding. Google’s advertising platform requires that companies bid for the top spot.
OAASYS is a relatively new tool. Until recently, both wireless and Internet technologies were not advanced enough for the program to work. Emergency ads appear in about 30 major cities across the country. Heroic Media’s goal is so achieve total ad coverage for every city in the country every day of the year, which costs about $9 million per year.
This new tool is such an incredible example of how best to meet a woman where she is at at the moment she begins to think through what to do about an unwanted or unexpected pregnancy. Since most millennials have smartphones now, and rely on them for virtually everything, it makes perfect sense to spread a pro-life message through advertisements on Google. It shows the power of finances in combating Planned Parenthood’s robust funding, and the unique way a pro-life message can seep through even the most unlikely spots: Google.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
