In Vitro Pregnancy Gets Teacher Fired

In vitro pregnancy gets teacher fired

This story is very strange to me, probably because I am not Catholic. I am aware that in the Catholic religion there are many rules, and I had no clue this was one of them.

Kelly Romenesko, 37, was a French teacher at two Roman Catholic schools in Appleton Milwaukee. She and her husband decided to start a family using in vitro fertilization. In September 2004, she asked for time off to complete the process. After a month, she gave her boss an update, letting him know that she was pregnant. She says days after that, she received a pink slip by the Catholic school system. Administrators stated that she is in violation of her contract which says that a teacher has t act in accordance with Catholic doctrine.

"All she was trying to do was have a child, which of course should be a wonderful thing," her lawyer James C. Jones said.

Catholics are taught that this procedure is morally wrong because it replaces the "natural" conjugal union between husband and wife and often results in the destruction of embryos. Jones says even though the couple used their own sperm and eggs, the church still forbids this procedure, and condemns all forms of experimentations on human embryos.

Romenesko filed a complaint of discrimination against the Appleton Catholic Educational System Inc. An investigator from the Equal Rights Division of the state Department of Workforce Development sustained the firing in December and Romensko appealed. She had a hearing sometime around September. "I believe that discrimination occurred," Jones said, challenging school officials knew for a month before the firing that she had undergone the procedure. "It was only after she was pregnant that she was terminated." If the administrative law judge sides with Romenesko, the state could award payment for back wages, benefits and attorneys' fees.

This story was very out of the ordinary to me. I feel that this should be ones choice and she shouldn't have been fired for trying to build a family with her husband. That is a family decision not a community one. However, she was fully aware of the contract and the Catholic laws, and she went against them. If she takes this to court she will probably loose this case for that very reason.