# Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 2, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016 "2012-07-02T17:57:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/1 "2012-07-02T17:57:57Z")
Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses, Government Documents Show > **[Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses,...](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/romney-bain-abortion-stericycle-sec/)** > > And these documents challenge Romney's claim that he left Bain Capital in early 1999. > [@](#): > > Earlier this year, Mitt Romney nearly landed in a politically perilous controversy when the Huffington Post reported that in 1999 the GOP presidential candidate had been part of an investment group that invested $75 million in Stericycle, a medical-waste disposal firm that has been attacked by anti-abortion groups for disposing aborted fetuses collected from family planning clinics. Coming during the heat of the GOP primaries, as Romney tried to sell South Carolina Republicans on his pro-life bona fides, the revelation had the potential to damage the candidate’s reputation among values voters already suspicious of his shifting position on abortion. > > But Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded, tamped down the controversy. The company said Romney left the firm in February 1999 to run the troubled 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and likely had nothing to with the deal. The matter never became a campaign issue. But documents filed by Bain and Stericycle with the Securities and Exchange Commission—and obtained by Mother Jones—list Romney as an active participant in the investment. > … > The document also states that Romney “may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to” 2,116,588 shares of common stock in Stericycle “in his capacity as sole shareholder” of the Bain entities that invested in the company. That was about 11 percent of the outstanding shares of common stock. (The whole $75 million investment won Bain, Romney, and their partners 22.64 percent of the firm’s stock—the largest bloc among the firm’s owners.) The original copy of the filing was signed by Romney. > > Another SEC document filed November 30, 1999, by Stericycle also names Romney as an individual who holds “voting and dispositive power” with respect to the stock owned by Bain. If Romney had fully retired from the private equity firm he founded, why would he be the only Bain executive named as the person in control of this large amount of Stericycle stock? Provided this gets enough publicity, how much, if at all, will this affect Romney’s chances? I think it’s likely that there are people in the Republican base who won’t vote at all rather than vote for someone who “profited from abortions”. If so, will it be enough to make a difference? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/2 "2012-07-02T18:32:03Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Provided this gets enough publicity, how much, if at all, will this affect Romney’s chances? I think it’s likely that there are people in the Republican base who won’t vote at all rather than vote for someone who “profited from abortions”. If so, will it be enough to make a difference? While my initial reaction is that it could significantly damage Romney among a lot of his base, I suspect ultimately it won’t do much. A few weeks ago, I saw a chart that showed how drastically different Obama and Romney supporters were in terms of whether they are voting for someone they prefer or against someone they do not. Far more Romney supporters are voting against Obama than for Romney. Given that, I suspect the effect of stuff like this will be minimal. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/3 "2012-07-02T18:55:34Z")
Seems like it could be damaging. Both from the “profited from abortion” angle, but also from the “lied about to what degree he was involved in Bain after 1998” angle. Its pretty hard to buy that he had really left the company in February if he was signing off on deals worth tens of millions in November. Given how hard the Obama campaign is pushing to make Romney’s time at Bain seem shady, he doesn’t do anything but feed into that narrative by getting caught lying about it. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/4 "2012-07-02T19:01:34Z")
Unlikely to matter, IMO. His voters are so invested in defeating Obama that Romney could have run a clinic himself and they’d look past it at this point. Hell, wasn’t he explicitly pro-choice at the time or was this after his conversion? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/5 "2012-07-02T19:14:21Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Unlikely to matter, IMO. His voters are so invested in defeating Obama that Romney could have run a clinic himself and they’d look past it at this point. I don’t think that’s exactly true. There are certainly a large number of people that will show up and vote against Obama even if its revealed Romeny bathes in fetus blood every night to preserve his complexion. And as the most committed voters, those people are generally the most visible so its easy to think they make up most of the people that will vote for Romney. But I don’t think they make up 50% of the electorate, which is what Romney actually needs to show up and pull the lever for him. Indeed, appealing to those people that aren’t slavering at the mouth to get rid of Obama is pretty much the whole reason Romney is the GOP nominee instead of someone more like Bachman, Newt, Cain, etc. > [@](#): > > Hell, wasn’t he explicitly pro-choice at the time or was this after his conversion? He (supposedly) was always prolife in his personal life, but supported Roe v Wade until 2007 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/6 "2012-07-02T19:19:47Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Indeed, appealing to those people that aren’t slavering at the mouth to get rid of Obama is pretty much the whole reason Romney is the GOP nominee instead of someone more like Bachman, Newt, Cain, etc. But aren’t those people the least likely to care about this story? That is, does a somewhat moderate pro-life voter really care that Romney’s company invested in a medical-waste firm? I mean, it’s business, right? I dunno, this just seems kinda small-potatoes to me. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/7 "2012-07-02T19:33:56Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > But aren’t those people the least likely to care about this story? That is, does a somewhat moderate pro-life voter really care that Romney’s company invested in a medical-waste firm? I mean, it’s business, right? I doubt this by itself will be a big deal. But the general rule when your running as a challenger is to avoid stories that reinforce already existing negative narratives about yourself. Once you get pegged as a flip-flopper or whatever, the media and the public starts to see everything you do through that lense. Obama is trying to paint Romney as a heartless plutocrat. A week or two of news coverage about whether or not Romney lied about making tens of millions harvesting the bodies of unborn children isn’t doing much to fight that image. All Obama needs is a story about Bain investing in a company whose business plan involved blocking out the sun, and he’ll be able to coast to an easy re-election. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/8 "2012-07-02T19:39:24Z")
The plan did not involve blocking out the sun, only collecting rent for the sunshine! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/9 "2012-07-02T19:49:57Z")
Guys, you know the mantra: IOKIARDI ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/10 "2012-07-02T21:35:46Z")
It get’s worse. He may have lied in his official financial disclosure forms. > **[When did Romney bail on Bain?](https://www.salon.com/2012/07/02/when_did_romney_leave_bain/)** > > The presidential candidate claims he left in February 1999, but documents complicate that picture > [@](#): > > Twice, first in 2007 during his earlier presidential bid and again this year, Romney filed personal disclosure forms with the Office of Government Ethics which explicitly state that Romney left Bain in early 1999. “Mr. Romney retired from Bain Capital on February 11, 1999, to head the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way,” his ethics filings from June state. > > Romney’s campaign has aggressively responded to reports that suggest otherwise. Last week, the campaign met with the Washington Post in an attempt to get the paper to retract its blockbuster report on Bain’s investment in companies that outsource jobs. A PowerPoint presentation prepared by the campaign pushes back on one of the paper’s claims by stating, “Governor Romney left Bain to lead the Salt Lake City Olympics in February 1999.” (The Post refused to retract the story.) ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/11 "2012-07-03T11:18:51Z")
One person I know is very pro-life and claims he’d never vote for a candidate supporting abortion. If this qualifies in his view, Romney may have lost another vote (he may have been planning on voting for Ron Paul). ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/12 "2012-07-03T11:26:56Z")
You know, I often joke to myself that Romney is that dude in “Pretty Woman”. But as time marches on, I’m thinking Romney makes that dude in “Pretty Woman” look like a boy scout. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/13 "2012-07-03T15:23:31Z")
More like Gordon Gecko. But a _nice_ Gordon Gecko! ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/14 "2012-07-03T15:58:58Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > More like Gordon Gecko. But a _nice_ Gordon Gecko! Profiting from disposal of aborted fetuses, for a lack of a better word, is good. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/15 "2012-07-03T17:35:02Z")
Look, they’re already dead and something has to be done with them, so as a good capitalist, of course there’s money to be made on it! ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/16 "2012-07-03T18:13:56Z")
Would this not make the weirdest attack add ever? What’s more cost effective: Ten dead fetuses in one trash can or one dead fetus in ten trash cans? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/17 "2012-07-03T18:37:40Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Profiting from disposal of aborted fetuses, for a lack of a better word, is good. I actually think that’s true. But obviously Romney doesn’t think so, or at least doesn’t think voters will. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/18 "2012-07-03T18:39:25Z")
> [@I\_Know\_Nothing](#): > > Would this not make the weirdest attack add ever? > > What’s more cost effective: Ten dead fetuses in one trash can or one dead fetus in ten trash cans? I’m picturing some sort of fetus-muppet, telling a sad story about how Romney murdered him and stole his organs while mournful music plays in the background. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/19 "2012-07-03T20:39:00Z")
Hello? Abortion is still legal in the US. What are you supposed to do with them, toss them out with the regular trash? Flush them down the john? Load them into tiny barrels and toss them in NJ’s barrens? They qualify as any other sort of surgical waste and needs to be disposed of by a medical waste company. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016/20 "2012-07-03T20:41:41Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Hello? Abortion is still legal in the US. > > What are you supposed to do with them, toss them out with the regular trash? Flush them down the john? Load them into tiny barrels and toss them in NJ’s barrens? They qualify as any other sort of surgical waste and needs to be disposed of by a medical waste company. Well, I agree with you, but that’s not exactly the point. Producing pornography is legal as well. Try selling that to your right wing electorate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-invested-in-medical-waste-firm-that-disposed-of-aborted-fetuses/627016.md?page=2)