By Cheryl Sullenger
Granite City, IL — Apparently, a high volume abortion facility in Illinois has a big, dirty problem.
This same abortion business is well known for a high number of abortion-related medical emergencies that have sent at least four women to the hospital in March and April alone.
But the Hope Clinic’s latest woes may be part of a nationwide pattern of grisly consequences when conducting the high-volume extermination of unborn children.
Pro-life activists reported interacting with a representative from Embrich Plumbing outside the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, on the morning of May 3, 2025. The plumber opened a nearby manhole for inspection as his shovel laid at the ready.
According to long-time pro-life activist Rose Wacher, a priest who had been praying outside the Hope Clinic approached the plumber and was told there was a blockage coming from the Hope Clinic and that it would be “very expensive” to unclog it.
While plumbing issues at abortion clinics are a seldom-mentioned “dirty little secret” within the abortion cartel, Operation Rescue has documented several such incidents.
The grisly cause? In most cases, it is aborted baby remains, which are flushed into the sewer system by abortion facilities.
One such example from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is remarkably similar to the incident in Granite City.
Abortionist Kermit Gosnell once ran the Women’s Medical Society in West Philadelphia. It became known as a “House of Horrors” after police discovered Gosnell was operating an appallingly filthy late-term abortion mill in which babies would often be born alive during incompetently performed abortions, only to be murdered by Gosnell as they struggled for life.
During Gosnell’s abortion murder trial in April 2013, his handyman, Jimmy Johnson, testified about the facility’s often clogged drains.
Johnson testified that toilets in the clinic would back up once or twice a week. This was because clinic workers would wash the contents of the suction machine bottles down the drain, even though Pennsylvania law prohibited it. On one occasion, the clogs were so bad that he was forced to open the cleanout drain on the outside of the building. To his dismay, out gushed material in which he observed tiny arms and other body parts.
Johnson told the court that he went inside to tell Gosnell what happened. Gosnell told him to clean it up, so Johnson took a shovel and scooped the human remains into a plastic bag and put them in the freezer. He had to conduct this unclogging process for the drain over and over.
Another example happened in Wichita, Kansas. In 2006, Operation Rescue purchased and closed the Central Women’s Services abortion facility, which was remodeled and continues to serve as Operation Rescue’s national headquarters.
On the initial walk-through on the first day of possession, Operation Rescue President Troy Newman discovered a small room with a sink where the suction machine bottles holding the remains of aborted babies were cleaned. To his horror, the sink still contained bloody residue and dried bits that appeared to be aborted baby remains. It was connected to a large industrial garbage disposal, which was clogged and no longer worked. It was the source of an overwhelming stench that filled the entire facility.
It is believed that the abortion facility was illegally dumping baby remains into the sink rather than paying for a medical waste disposal service.
Other abortion facilities that have documented similar cases of sewer clogs include Planned Parenthood’s Cincinnati Surgical Center in Ohio and the Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood in Illinois.
Meanwhile, in Illinois, the state government has passed laws that make abortion facilities essentially untouchable and unaccountable. Licensing and inspections are now optional, and complaints about patient injuries from botched abortions go largely unheeded.
Nevertheless, Operation Rescue continues to seek enforcement against abortion facilities like the Hope Clinic, which still maintains a facility license. A complaint has been filed by Sarah Neely, Operation Rescue’s Chief Operating Officer seeking an investigation into the recent spate of botched abortions at Hope Clinic, which conducts abortions up to 28 weeks of pregnancy.
“The misnamed Hope Clinic has richly earned the ‘House of Horror’ moniker with the latest string of botched abortions and apparent flushing of human baby remains into the sewer system,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
He adds, “This is what a state gets when it puts abortion facilities outside the law to commit whatever atrocities they please without accountability. Unfortunately, we expect to see more wounded women – and more sewer issues – at the Hope Clinic in the future. Pray that this untenable situation in Democrat-controlled Illinois changes. That state needs a miracle to persuade it to respect and protect pregnant women and their unborn babies.”
This report may be republished with inclusion of the following acknowledgement: “This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Cheryl Sullenger, is Operation Rescue Sr. Vice President Emeritus.”
