Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the guest author.
In March of 2021, an unmarked vehicle with Texas license plates was seen receiving material on a weekly basis from a Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tara Shaver, a sidewalk counselor with Abortion Free New Mexico, noticed this and contacted the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) with photo evidence of large red shipping containers being placed in the vehicle. Shaver noted state administrative codes require commercial haulers (of infectious waste) to “conspicuously label all solid waste collection vehicles with the company, municipality, or county department name,” as well as “conspicuously label all solid waste collection vehicles with the environment department registration number.”
These violations prompted NMED to investigate. Daniel R. Galasso, the Solid Waste Bureau (SWB) Enforcement Officer, met with Amy Dickson, Chief Operating Officer of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. She supplied the SWB with 17 special waste manifests, showing the company Oncore Technology, LLC, received and hauled what was deemed as “infectious waste” from the abortion facility for a brief period of time. Oncore, located in Grand Prairie, Texas, was found to be an unregistered commercial hauler.
Oncore facility sign
Thomas Simmons, the Operations Manager of Oncore Technology, told Galasso in August of 2021 that Oncore Health Solutions and BioCycle operated in conjunction for hauling purposes for Oncore Technology, LLC. SWB records determined Oncore Health Solutions was the transporter arriving at the New Mexico clinic; Oncore Health Solutions was also not a registered commercial hauler. These manifests used the registration number for a registered commercial hauler, BioCycle, Inc., located in Amarillo, Texas. As a result of the violations, the New Mexico Environment Department fined Oncore Technology $300 — which was less than the price of the abortion pill regimen administered by the Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque during the time of this investigation.
In 2015, prior to abortion being outlawed in Texas, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Inc., located in Houston, released a response to the Department of Health and Hospitals regarding a video seeming to verify the taking part in illegal fetal tissue sales from abortions, which Planned Parenthood denied. In this response, the president and CEO Melaney A. Linton stated products of abortion are defined as “pathological waste” under Texas law. Linton stated, “[Planned Parenthood Center for Choice (PPCFC)] contracts with a company to dispose of its Special Waste from Health Care-Related Facilities, which includes Pathological Waste from PPCFC… PPCFC contracts with Oncore Technology, LLC for the disposal of Special Waste from Health Care-Related Facilities, including Pathological Waste. Oncore’s address is 2613 Skyway Dr. Grand Prairie, TX 75052.”
As a result of how Planned Parenthood and others were treating the remains of unborn children as “pathological waste,” the Texas legislature passed a fetal burial bill known as Senate Bill 8 (2017). That bill clarified that “Embryonic and fetal tissue remains are not pathological waste under state law” and required health care facilities within the State of Texas that provide “health or medical care to a pregnant woman” to “dispose of embryonic and fetal tissue remains that are passed or delivered at the facility by: (1) interment; (2) cremation; (3) incineration followed by interment; or (4) steam disinfection followed by interment.” The law was clear to say, “The ashes resulting from the cremation or incineration of embryonic and fetal tissue remains: (1) may be interred or scattered in any manner as authorized by law for human remains; and (2) may not be placed in a landfill.”
BioCycle facility sign
On Saturday, February 24th, 2024, an employee who was leaving BioCycle Healthcare Waste Management Services in Amarillo, Texas, stopped to answer some questions from a couple of curious bystanders outside of the facility’s gated entrance. One of those bystanders was Mark Lee Dickson, a director with Right to Life of East Texas and the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.
Dickson asked the employee if the company ever picked up from Planned Parenthood. The employee shared with Dickson that he was picking up from a Planned Parenthood in Wichita, Kansas — over six hours away. When asked if he picked up from any abortion facilities outside of Wichita, Kansas, the employee answered, “That’s the only one that I know about off the top of my head because it’s the one that I do because I’m just a driver here. So there’s probably more but I just don’t know off the top of my head.” When asked how often his company picked up from the Wichita abortion facility, the driver responded, “Every month. Once a month.” Upon being asked if the Amarillo facility was disposal or storage, the driver answered, “It’s both. We store it, and then we dispose of it as well.”
BioCycle/Oncore Technology has a broad service range, providing business to several states, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said, “I find it utterly demonic that a waste management company in Amarillo, Texas, would be doing business with an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas.”
Abortion Free New Mexico missionary Tara Shaver, who filed the initial BioCycle complaint in Albuquerque, New Mexico, shared, “Abortion Free New Mexico firmly believes that biohazard waste hauling and disposal companies are the weak link of the abortion industry. These companies make it possible for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers across the nation to kill innocent unborn babies and then inhumanely discard their bodies as biohazard waste.” Shaver continued, “The fact that abortion is illegal in Texas but aborted babies from states including New Mexico can be disposed of, in a pro-life state like Texas, by BioCycle Healthcare Waste Management Services is egregious.”
Texas medical waste management facility types include medical waste autoclave facility, medical waste processor, incinerator, and medical waste transfer station. BioCycle is a medical waste autoclave facility. According to BioCycle’s website, the process of disposal of medical waste begins by weighing containers on an industrial scale. Then, waste-filled carts are loaded into the autoclave, a device used to sterilize the waste. This process is followed by unloading the materials into a shredder and then placing the shredded waste into a compactor. It is unknown how waste is ultimately disposed of.
Currently, there are no Texas laws prohibiting the hauling of fetal remains into Texas and disposing of those remains.
“In 2017, Texas passed a fetal burial law,” said Mark Lee Dickson. “Unfortunately, that law has a massive loophole. While state law addresses the disposal of remains of unborn children from medical facilities within the state of Texas in §697.004 of the Health and Safety Code, state law does not address: (1) the transportation of the remains of unborn children who have been killed by an elective abortion from an abortion provider in another state, and (2) the disposal of the remains of an unborn child killed by an elective abortion outside the State of Texas at a waste management facility inside the State of Texas.” Dickson concluded, “BioCycle/Oncore Technology/Oncore Health Solutions have a history of working with baby-murdering cartels across our nation and nothing in the laws of Texas stops them from continuing to have that history of ‘cleaning up’ for the baby murdering industry. In one report, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Inc. in California reported giving Oncore Technology, LLC $166,255 for medical services. Organizations like Oncore Technology must stop assisting the baby killers in this work.”
Representative Dustin Burrows, who cosponsored Senate Bill 8 (2017), shared, “Texas needs to close the loophole; however, Amarillo has the power to close it now.” Burrows stressed the importance of cities like Amarillo doing their part to address this issue now instead of waiting for over 18 months for a State law to take effect, or in case the Texas legislature fails to pass a bill addressing this loophole.
Citizens of Amarillo are attempting to close this loophole and other loopholes through a Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Ordinance and their city’s citizen initiative petition process allowed for by their city charter. Volunteers have been working to gather a sufficient number of residents’ signatures in support of the Amarillo Initiative to petition the Amarillo City Council. If they collect enough signatures and the measure is passed by a vote of the city council or the citizens of Amarillo, BioCycle will be forced to cease its interactions with out-of-state abortion facilities.
