GoDaddy took down another Texas abortion whistleblower tip site that charged people $20 to submit a claim
GoDaddy removed its hosting services from another Texas whistleblower abortion tip site.
A company spokesperson told Insider the site violated its terms of service.
GoDaddy similarly revoked its services from another abortion tip site in early September.
GoDaddy pulled the rug out from another Texas abortion whistleblower tip site that charged users $20 to submit a claim about a violation of the state's new abortion law.
Dan Race, GoDaddy's vice president of public relations, told Insider on Thursday that abortionreporter.org violated its terms of service.
"We have informed abortionreporter.org they have violated GoDaddy's terms of service and have 24 hours to move to a different provider," Race said. "The site violated our terms of service, including but not limited to, Section 5.2."
The now-defunct website's "Terms and Conditions" page explicitly warned that any claims made on the site would be forwarded to an "interested 3rd-party organization that may or may not choose to act on the information and/or make contact with the customer for a follow-up."
Cybersecurity experts and abortion access advocates previously told Insider that it could be disastrous for patients and providers if an abortion tip site accidentally leaked the claims it receives that could contain sensitive medical history.
"I shudder even to consider the implications of an extremist anti-choice group having a database of Texans who are known to support reproductive freedom," Dina Montemarano, the research director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, told Insider in an email. "This is a major privacy issue that could have dangerous consequences."
The "Terms and Conditions" page also reveals that the website is run by a Wyoming-based company: Convenience Pro LLC. Wyoming's secretary of state records show the company was created on September 7 - mere days after Texas Right to Life's tip site, prolifewhistleblower.com, went offline after encountering similar domain and web hosting difficulties with GoDaddy and Epik.
Wyoming's LLC laws are unique and do not require LLC registrations to include any information about the manager of the company or its members. Convenience Pro LLC's records only list the person who signed the paperwork, in this case, a Houston-based incorporation service and the LLC's address.
The address on the LLC's registration does not lead to a formal, in-person office space: the address is instead for a building used by several different online-based companies to use for mail forwarding, conference space, and more.
Texas' new abortion law prohibits doctors from performing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected, typically around the six-week mark of pregnancy. The law also allows for any person to sue an abortion provider and anyone they believe assisted someone in getting an abortion.
If the lawsuit is successful, the person suing will recoup their lawyer fees and receive at least $10,000. Only two lawsuits have been filed using Texas' law: both from disbarred attorneys who oppose the statute.
While the Texas abortion law has led to a chilling effect for in-state abortions, providers in bordering states have seen an influx of patients from the state seeking abortions, Insider's Yelena Dzhanova reported.
Correction: This story previously inaccurately described who could be sued under Texas' new law. Abortion providers and people who helped someone get an abortion can be sued.
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