Pro-life organization Human Coalition says that their app, which is still on the Google Play Store where it boasts a five-star rating, was removed from the App Store by the brass at Apple after they were criticized by pro-choice activists and liberal-leaning media.
Pro-life? There’s an app for that, but you might not know by looking at your iPhone.
Tech behemoth Apple has suddenly dropped a pro-life prayer application from its App Store after left-wing bloggers complained about it being listed on the store’s directory.
Pro-life organization Human Coalition says its app, which is still on the Google Play Store where it boasts a near five-star rating, was removed from the App Store by the brass at Apple after they were criticized by pro-choice activists and liberal-leaning media. Officials for the Human Coalition said Apple then made matters worse by lying about why the site was taken down.
“In July, on the heels of pro-abortion media pushback, Apple notified us that they had removed the Human Coalition app from the App Store, citing violations of certain functionality requirements,” Human Coalition officials said in a statement provided to LifeNews.com. “However, Human Coalition spoke with Apple and demonstrated that not only were the cited requirements met, but that the Human Coalition app exceeded minimum requirements and functioned better than similar apps from other developers.”
The organization said the move was just the latest attempt by abortion advocates and the media to silence the pro-life movement.
“There is a growing trend in the U.S. to attempt to deter or silence Americans who oppose the fatal discrimination against preborn children,” Brian Fisher, Co-Founder and President of Human Coalition, told Fox News. “This move by Apple is not surprising, though it is a deep disappointment. Human Coalition remains committed to providing compassionate, loving care to women and their children even in the face of these challenges.”
Officials for Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The app, which shares the same name as the organization that developed it, contains a feature called “Prayer Feed” where users can access in real-time a map of the U.S. that shows where other users of the app are praying. Users can open up the “Prayer Feed” where they receive notifications they can swipe to confirm that they are praying for some who is considering getting an abortion.
Assorted screenshots from the Human Coalition app.
“Harnessing the power of prayer and technology, this Prayer App brings together praying people from across the country in real-time for one purpose: to pray for abortion-determined families as they walk through their decision process,” reads a description of the app on its Google Play Store page. Users can also access their social media feeds to see which of their friends may be currently praying.
It was this past summer when the app first came under scrutiny from liberal bloggers and other writers.
“With the help of an app developed by the anti-abortion Human Coalition, it was easy! I saved real-live babies from the clutches of money-grubbing abortion providers with just a couple dozen swipes of my right thumb, as if I were paging through Tinder or wiping a little schmutz off the screen of my phone,” reads a June post from Slate blog XXfactor entitled, “Bizarre App Lets Users Swipe Right to ‘Pray’ for Real Women Considering Abortion.”
Amelia Tait wrote in an article at the U.K.’s The New Statesman last July, “Are digital anti-abortion prayers sanctioned by the church? Do they reach God? Though these questions may seem faintly ridiculous, their answers seem more important than ever. When it comes to the tech behind these anti-abortion apps however, that is where people – religious or not – might do well to lose a little faith.”
News of Apple’s seeming censorship of a pro-life organization came on the heels of Twitter having to reverse the ban of a pro-life campaign ad after a wave of backlash.
Earlier this month, the social media giant had suspended the purchased ad of U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn, telling the Tennessee Republican's campaign officials that a reference to “baby parts” was inflammatory and would likely bring a strong negative reaction.
In the ad, Blackburn was seen announcing her candidacy and declaring, “I am 100 percent pro-life. I fought Planned Parenthood, and we stopped the sale of baby parts.”
But the only negative reaction Twitter received was backlash over what was perceived as censorship on its part. Some 24 hours later, Twitter reversed its decision.
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