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Reversing a long-held policy, Google will now allow Christian and other pro-life groups to buy antiabortion ads that will show against search results for search terms such as "abortion" and "abortion help." Google said it would be “creating a level playing field and enabling religious associations to place ads on abortion in a factual way." The company faced suit from the U.K.'s Christian Institute, which said the Equalities Act of 2006 made Google's ban illegal.With Google already facing suit from Viacom and potentially the Justice Department over its deal to serve ads against Yahoo search, the company probably decided it didn't need another legal headache, especially not one that would antagonize the 41 percent of Americans who call themselves pro-life. Defending the company's deal with Yahoo yesterday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said: "You face a question as a large company trying to change things: How many initiatives do you want to take on that are unpopular or lead to criticism?"