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SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon-dot-com says it is changing the way its search engine handles requests for the term “abortion.”

The Web retailer says it got an e-mail complaint that the results of the searches seem biased.

Until the criteria were changed, if you were to type in the word “abortion” you'd get a prompt that asks: “Did you mean adoption?” Under the question, there are search results on abortion.

A spokeswoman for Amazon says the prompt isn't meant as some kind of political or social statement but rather a technology issue.

Patty Smith notes that adoption and abortion are nearly the same, save for two keystrokes, so the program takes into account the possibility of a misspelling.

But the company says it ditched the question because the e-mailer raised a valid question. People who type in the term “adoption” don't get a prompt asking: “Do you mean abortion.” The change in the site was reported yesterday by The New York Times.
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