GREENVILLE, S.C. — An abortion facility in South Carolina and a branch of the nation’s largest medical waste company have been leveled with thousands in fines after abortion facility representatives were captured on camera transporting “infectious waste” to a gas station, where they would meet up with their hauler, Stericycle, to transfer the boxes for disposal.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) recently issued an administrative order fining the Greenville Women’s Clinic $19,000, as well as a consent order fining the medical waste giant Stericycle $9,500.
One of the orders states that during a teleconference in March, an attorney for the abortion facility advised that “[i]ts licensed transporter (Stericycle) on occasion would refuse to enter the premises and specifically requested that the package be delivered to them at the Quick Trip gas station.”
However, in a letter provided provided by Stericycle in April, the company rather said that a former transportation supervisor agreed to receive the waste at the location at the request of the abortion facility.
Regardless of which party requested of the other to meet at the gas station, the department found both in violation of a number of infectious waste regulations.
Greenville Women’s Center was cited with “transporting infectious waste within South Carolina without being registered with the department,” “failing to ensure that each vehicle used to transport infectious waste (met specific) requirements,” and “failing to develop a written infectious waste management plan,” among other violations.
Stericycle was cited with “failing to ensure that infectious waste is only transferred from one vehicle to another at a designated transfer facility” and “accepting shipments of infectious waste which were transported within South Carolina without being accompanied by infectious waste manifests that were completed (properly) … in that the manifests did not include the total number of containers and the total weight,” among other violations.
Read the orders here and here.
As previously reported, several incidents where abortion facility representatives transported “infectious waste” to the Quick Trip gas station were recorded by pro-life individuals and submitted to the South Carolina DHEC.
The videos, recorded in June and October 2017, show a vehicle leaving Greenville Women’s Clinic and then pulling into the gas station, where they parked behind the Stericycle truck and handed off a medical waste box to the driver.
View the videos here, here, and here.
The letter from DHEC issued earlier this year also cited two more recent incidents on Jan. 10 and 31. Read the letter here.
“The representative of Greenville Women’s removed a biohazard marked box from the passenger seat of the vehicle, and the Stericycle driver accepted the waste for transportation and loaded it onto the transport vehicle,” the notice of violation read under the Oct. 18 outline.
DHEC outlined that this activity violates South Carolina infectious waste management regulations as: 1) the personal vehicle used to drive the box to the gas station was not registered with the Department to transport hazardous waste, nor was it marked as mandated to notate to the public that it was transporting infectious waste and 2) the gas station is not a designated or acceptable transfer facility.
Christian News Network reached out to DHEC in March to inquire if the boxes contained the remains of aborted children, referred to in government terms as “fetal remains,” but was only advised generally, “The boxes received by Stericycle from the Greenville Women’s Clinic contained regulated medical waste.”
However, the violation notice submitted to the abortion facility notes that “Greenville Women’s … states it generates between 50 and 999 pounds of infectious waste in a calendar month,” which would suggest that the weight comes from more than just bloodied gowns and gloves. The DHEC considers Greenville Women’s Clinic as a “large quantity (waste) generator.”
According to local television station WSPA, Stericycle has paid its fine. In 2015, Stericycle was similarly found to have unlawfully dumped the remains of aborted babies from Greenville Women’s Clinic into a landfill after steam-sterilizing the boxes, instead of incinerating them as required by law, as the medical waste boxes were not properly labeled by the abortion facility.
Stericycle has claimed for years that it does not accept fetal remains for disposal and has denied that it has been engaged in doing so.
However, in addition to the 2015 matter in South Carolina, the medical waste giant was fined $42,000 in Texas in 2011 for dumping fetal remains from Whole Woman’s Health in Austin with household and commercial trash.
“It was explained that medical waste is placed in red biohazard bags, then placed into boxes provided by Stericycle. Each fetus resulting from an abortion is placed into a hard plastic container and then into a red biohazard bag. The bag is then placed into a freezer, where it is stored,” an investigative report from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) outlined.
“When Stericycle arrives to transport the medical waste, the individual fetuses are removed from the freezer and placed into another large red biohazard bag. The red biohazard bag containing the fetuses is placed into the medical waste box along with other medical waste generated at the facility that requires treatment,” it continued. “According to facility representatives and the medical waste manifest reviewed, it appears that Stericycle picks up the waste once per week.”
The Campaign to Stop Stericycle, which has been working to expose Stericycle’s collection, transportation and incineration of aborted babies, also notes that grand jury documents surrounding the criminal case of convicted Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell outline that Gosnell used Stericycle to dispose of aborted babies as well.
“James Johnson, who worked for Gosnell since 2001, testified that his duties included collecting the red biohazard bags of fetal remains and putting them in boxes for pickup by an outside firm, Stericycle,” the Grand Jury Presentment explained.
The Campaign to Stop Stericycle had conducted an investigation into the company’s practices and was told that representatives do not inquire about the contents of the boxes collected at abortion facilities. However, the company provides the facilities with “incinerate only” stickers for “pathological waste” containers—those containing body parts and fluids.
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