By Anne Reed

Amarillo, Texas – Operation Rescue has lauded the work of Texas legislators in protecting preborn children in the state. In many ways, the state has risen as one of the most pro-life states in the nation.

This week, however, Mark Lee Dickson, friend of Operation Rescue and founder of the “Sanctuary City” initiatives, brought attention to the fact that the existing pro-life laws in Texas have left an ever-widening gap. The loophole allows for Texas based companies to partner with abortion facilities in other states to store and dispose of the bodies of aborted babies.

Texas law addresses the disposal of remains of unborn children from medical facilities located within the state of Texas in §697.004 of the Health and Safety Code, but it does not address the transportation of the remains of unborn children killed by abortionists in other states, nor does it prohibit the disposal of their remains at a waste management facility inside the state of Texas.

Of particular interest, the bodies of babies are transported from Wichita, Kansas, where the headquarters of Operation Rescue is located. How do we know this?  

On February, 24, an employee leaving the BioCycle Healthcare Waste Management Services in Amarillo, Texas, answered questions posed by inquisitive bystanders outside the gated entrance.

The employee, who was a driver for the company, stated he personally picked up “medical waste” from Wichita’s Planned Parenthood every month.  He clarified that the company likely picked up from other abortion facilities in Kansas.

BioCycle is a Type V Registration solid waste facility operated by Oncore Technology, LLC, based in Grand Prairie, Texas. The employee stated that the company both stores and disposes of remains from abortion facilities, aligning with the company’s history of operating as a medical waste transportation and disposal service for abortion facilities across the country.    

According to BioCycle’s website, its disposal process consists of weighing containers on an industrial scale, then loading the contents into an autoclave for sterilization before shredding it into a compactor.

More insight is gained from July 2015 correspondence between Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals Office of the Secretary and Melaney A. Linton, President and CEO of Houston’s Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Inc.   On  July 24, 2015, Linton responded to the state of Louisiana’s questions about the process used in Texas to dispose of aborted children and whether such remains were donated or sold to other entities. 

Linton responded, “Under Texas law, products of spontaneous or induced human abortions, regardless of the period of gestation, fall under the definition of ‘Pathological Waste.’ Pathological Waste is included in the definition of ‘Special Waste from Health Care-Related Facilities,’ which requires certain treatment and disposition under the Texas Administrative Code. PPCFC [Planned Parenthood Center for Choice – an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Inc.] disposes of Pathological Waste through an entity that is licensed for disposal of Special Waste from Health Care-Related Facilities. 

“In Texas, immediately following an abortion or miscarriage management, the products of conception (‘POC’) are evaluated for completeness and gross abnormalities to ensure patient health and safety. If there are no concerns, it is securely stored until it is picked up by the licensed entity, which then disposes of it…”

When asked if any of the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast facilities, affiliates, or subsidiaries contracted with companies that assist with disposing of, donating, or selling of unborn baby organs or body parts, Linton stated it contracted with “a company to dispose of its Special Waste from Health Care-Related Facilities, which includes Pathological Waste from PPCFC.” She specifically named Oncore Technology, LLC.  

Oncore Operations in New Mexico

In 2021, Oncore was caught secretly picking up the remains of aborted babies in New Mexico. Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico wrote a complaint letter to the Enforcement Division of the Solid Waste Bureau of New Mexico’s Environmental Department concerning an unmarked vehicle regularly hauling infectious waste from a Planned Parenthood in San Mateo, New Mexico. New Mexico state law requires commercial haulers of infectious waste to “label all solid waste collection vehicles with the company, municipality, or county department name” and “conspicuously label all solid waste collection vehicles with the environment department registration number.”  

Shaver’s reporting of the apparent violations prompted the New Mexico Environment Department 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, who revealed that, it was Oncore Health Solutions, that received and hauled “infectious waste” from the Albuquerque abortion facility for a period of time.

On May 19, 2021, Galasso wrote to identify problem areas and to reiterate the abortion facility’s responsibility in ensuring proper documentation “regarding the release and acceptance of the waste from the point of generation to its final disposal (‘cradle to grave’).”

Additionally, Oncore Health Solutions, located in Grand Prairie, Texas, was found to be an unregistered commercial hauler. Thomas Simmons, the Operations Manager of Oncore Technology, told Galasso in August of 2021 that Oncore Health Solutions and BioCycle worked together to haul for Oncore Technology, LLC.

For these violations, the New Mexico Environment Department fined Oncore Technology a mere $300.

Oncore Operations in Kansas

More than 12 years ago, on December 19, 2011, BioCycle, the second of the two Texas-based hauling companies for Oncore Technology, Inc. filed an application for a Foreign For-Profit Corporation with the Kansas Office of the Secretary of State.  

Though the registered agent in Kansas was listed as “The Corporation Company Inc.” in Topeka, Kansas, the office address provided was 7308 Andover Drive in Amarillo, Texas. The “Full nature and character of the business to be conducted in the state of Kansas,” read “Disposal of medical waste products.” 

In BioCycle, Inc.’s annual reports filed 2012 through 2017, directors listed were all residents of Amarillo, except in 2017 when a new board member from California, James White, filed a Business Entity Amendment to Withdraw From Kansas. Also in 2017, a Foreign For-Profit Corporation Application was filed for “medical waste treatment” by the Kansas Office of the Secretary of State from Oncore Health Solutions, LLC., also with an address in Grand Prairie, Texas.  

The connection between the Texas based groups was seen in a September 18, 2019, annual report filed by the Kansas Office of the Secretary of State from Oncore Health Solutions, LLC. It named both BioCycle, Inc., in Amarillo, Texas, and Oncore Technology, LLC, in Grand Prairie, Texas.

A Growing Concern

The connections did not grow weaker beyond 2019, as seen in annual reports filed on August 10, 2020, on April 14, 2021, on April 11, 2022, and on March 21, 2023. As a matter of fact, searches for Oncore Health Solutions, BioCycle, and Oncore Technology, uncover companies with similar names in Arizona, California, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, and several other states. Each company has ties with the Texas entities.

According to a June 2023 report by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, 2,978 of the 12,317 induced abortions in Kansas were committed on Texas babies. When analyzing the total of out-of-state abortions in the state of Kansas, the Charlotte Lozier Institute pointed out that a whopping 35 percent of the nonresident abortions performed in Kansas were on mothers from Texas. And Texas residents made up nearly a quarter of all abortions committed in Kansas.

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, 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.

“There are two things that Texas can do to help us in our battle against the abortion industry in Kansas. One, they need to do everything they can to prevent their residents from coming to our state to murder their children. The parking lots of our abortion clinics are full of cars and trucks with Texas license plates. Texans coming to Kansas is what is keeping the abortion industry alive in our state. Two, as long as waste management companies in Texas are doing business with the Kansas abortion industry, the baby-murdering cartels will always have a place to get rid of the aftermath of their devilish deeds.”

Operation Rescue fully supports the citizen initiative petition in support of a Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn ordinance in Amarillo. If the current version of the ordinance passes the city council, the abortion trafficking of Amarillo residents for out-of-state abortions as well as the transportation and disposal of the remains of children killed by an abortion provider through elective abortion would be prohibited within the city limits of Amarillo.