Google Ads Affecting My Readers: Dr. Amy Vs. Homebirth

Now, I'm quite sure where to lay the blame on this one. It's not with Associated Content. It isn't even with Google Ads, who has done a fairly good job of making sure that their ads match well with the content on web pages. The fault is with Dr. Amy, who is using Google ads in a dishonest manner.

I've written several articles about homebirth and topics related to homebirth on Associated Content (and if you'd like to look them up and let me know what you think, I'd love to hear your opinion) and I thought I was the only one who noticed the pattern. At the top of the Google ads, there is a link for a blog about homebirth debate. The blog is written by a woman with the nickname Dr. Amy, and she is vehemently opposed to women having any say in their birth.

The problem is that this link goes to a blog that is about anything but homebirth debate. It is a ceaseless rant against homebirth and birth rights and Dr. Amy has incited many homebirth supporters already. Now they're seeing the link on my homebirth articles. Considering Dr. Amy's reputation and hatred of homebirth, they're starting to feel attacked on what should be safe territory.

The part that really concerns me is that if people are looking at my articles to get information about homebirth, either because of a personal interest in homebirth or some other purpose, they're going to see this ad at the top of the Google ads. They are Dr. Amy's target audience.

If people who are looking for information on homebirth safety or homebirth statistics, they're going to see the homebirth debate blog right in the Google ads and probably want more information. I'm sure this is what Dr. Amy anticipated when she misrepresented her blog to Google ads, but this woman is using her status as a doctor to justify her position. If people are researching homebirth so that they can take a more active role in their healthcare, they're cutting into her business and harming her belief structure.

I wouldn't have a single problem with this if Dr. Amy was acting responsibly, but she isn't. Though there are many homebirth supporters and homebirth midwives on her blog repeatedly handing her statistics or demanding her proof to justify her stances, Dr. Amy refuses to listen to reason. Her entire blog is a rant against homebirth and women who have a homebirth. She scares people with false statistics and horror stories, refuses to verify her sources, and refuses to be held accountable.

Dr. Amy also doesn't want to be held accountable for using Google ads to target women at a vulnerable point in their lives and behaving in an unethical manner in the way that she portrays her blog on Google ads.

I'm not really sure what anyone can do except wait for her advertising budget to wear out. The problem with that is that as long as Google ads is working for her, she may keep putting more money into her advertising in an attempt to scare women away from homebirth. I'm all for free speech, but at least be honest about your agenda.

I like to have faith that most people are smart enough to see through hate-speech, but it disturbs me that Google ads would let something like this slip through. It concerns me that it plays on a woman's fears to deny her options. I realize that they can't monitor every website, and I don't really expect them to, but when I'm faced with people complaining to me about Google ads on my articles, it concerns me that my reputation might be called into question. I wouldn't want to be viewed as promoting emotional abuse of women, homebirth supporters, and midwives. Worse, I wouldn't want to be viewed as being irresponsible, misleading women into doing something dangerous when, by Dr. Amy's opinion, homebirth is risky, dangerous, and has no benefits. Women have struggled hard since homebirth started making a comeback in the 70's to show these stereotypes to be incorrect, but no matter how determined we are to have the information, there is still reconciling within ourselves that everything that we've believed about birth was a lie. When people falsely advertise on Google ads so that they can openly manipulate women in a vicious assault on their options, they are putting women at risk more than I ever could.

As for Dr. Amy and her Homebirth Debate blog, anyone who has dealt with her has a pretty good idea of what kind of woman this is. There is considerable speculation about what kind of doctor she is, or if she's retired, but Dr. Amy has nevertheless made it her personal goal to target women learning about homebirth and fill their heads with nonsense.

Many doctors and organizations for doctors are adamantly opposed to homebirth. Many of them have personal reasons why they feel that homebirth should not be an option for women and many doctors believe that they should be the only way that all people, but particularly pregnant women, should receive health care. They fully subscribe to the propaganda that they are far more necessary than they really are, and they view childbirth from an angle that increases dangers and complications for mothers and their babies. Dr. Amy is no exception. She has just been quite open about her opinions in a public forum. However, advertising on Google ads with the intent of targeting women learning about homebirth and the other ways that she goes about spreading her agenda are particularly worrisome and harmful to women and their rights. She is trying to target a specific audience that can be most harmed by her beliefs, and using unethical means to do it.

For more information on Dr. Amy and her agenda, there are several other bloggers who have addressed the issue. While they don't advertise on Google ads, she has also advertised in other areas trying to get to women and she has upset many a person.

Links from people who have addressed the issue of Dr. Amy and Homebirth Debate:

Observant Midwife
Random Access

A different doctor's blog. This is a doctor I could support. In spite of the interventive nature of her practice, she tries to put the mother's care first. I really respect that.

Fpmama

I am disappointed that Dr. Amy, someone who is supposed to be held to higher standards than your average person because they are more educated and have taken an oath, has disgraced her position by using it as a tool to harm people. While she is certainly not the only person to have done so, it is our responsibility to hold her accountable for her actions.

I do not condone them. I do not support her position. I do not support her advertising on my articles via Google ads, nor is it the fault of Associated Content. Dr. Amy's immoral behavior is her responsibility alone.

I hope that my readers will continue to look for my articles, particularly in regards to homebirth. I hope that my readers will do their research and determine if homebirth is right for them and their families. I hope that they won't refrain from clicking on Google ads that interest them. I just hope that people realize that the blame for the actions of Dr. Amy lie solely at her feet.