Catholic School Fires Teacher, Five Months Pregnant, for Choosing Artificial Insemination

[marmar]

Outrageous: Catholic School Fires Teacher, Five Months Pregnant, for Choosing Artificial Insemination


Christa Dias was a teacher at Archdiocese of Cincinnati schools for nearly two years before, at five months pregnant, the thirty-one-year-old asked about maternity leave. But rather than grant Dias some well-deserved time off, the schools fired her because her baby was conceived by artificial insemination, Cincinnati.com reports.

From Jezebel:

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati requires all employees to sign contracts stating that they'll adhere to Catholic social teachings, including the assertion that being pregnant sans husband is a gravely immoral act. Someone tell that to the Virgin Mary.

The school originally said it fired her for being single and pregnant, but they were informed that that's not technically legal, so they changed their tune to say they fired her for becoming pregnant via artificial insemination.

Dias was fired from Archdiocese of Cincinnati, where she was making $36,000 a year, in October 2010. Now the mother of a of an 11-month-old daughter, she is still unemployed. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/755105/outrageous%3A_catholic_school_fires_teacher%2C_five_months_pregnant%2C_for_choosing_artificial_insemination/

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. $36,000 a year

She needs to get a job in a public school. That salary is insulting for a teacher.

[ohheckyeah]

2. Why are the religious people

so obsessed with this shit?

[msongs]

3. "mary" had a husband. she got pregnant by "not her husband" that was ok in those days tho nt

[blueamy66]

4. Don't take a job at a parochial school if

1. you are not married and want to conceive
2. you want to make a decent salary

Nobody forced her to take the job. Just like those lovely folks that want to be firemen/women and policemen/women. Don't apply for the job if you cannot handle what comes with the job.

[treestar]

5. How did they know how she got pregnant?

[MADem]

8. That was my first thought, too!

Seems like a bit of excessive involvement in personal lives, that...

[BiggJawn]

10. Um, she asked for maternity leave?

You usually don't request that unless you're pregnant, right?

[treestar]

11. How did they know it was artificial insemination?

As opposed to a natural conception?

[BiggJawn]

14. I have no idea.

What I read was that they couldn't fire her for being single and pregnant, but they could fire her for being artificially inseminated (ironic, huh?)

Read the article. and if you still have questions, direct them to the writer, not me.

[treestar]

16. I have not directed anything at you.

You failed to read my post and then responded to me as if I had said something stupid.

[MountainLaurel]

15. Insurance claims? n/t

[treestar]

17. Probably not due to confidentiality of medical records.

She must have volunteered that information.

Maybe not realizing that the Catholic Church is against that, too.

[MountainLaurel]

24. For her employer, probably not a HIPAA issue

Particularly if the school if self-insured and small.

[HockeyMom]

6. Male teacher fired for vasectomy

I suppose he must have told somebody otherwise how would they even know? Students walked out. Parents refused to pay tuition until he was rehired. It made all the local media. "Let them look at how many brothers and sisters their students have", one parent wrote. "If they fired all the students whose parents use birth control, they would have nobody in this school."

The school eliminated their "Morals" Clause after this incident.

[The Straight Story]

7. Guess they would have fired Mary then (nt)

[JoePhilly]

9. Jesus was conceived via artificial insemination too.

God was the sperm donor.

[yellowcanine]

12. Wait a minute - so they could not have fired he if she had become preggers by the usual boinking

method but they can fire her for using AI? Lots of thou shalt nots in the Bible but I don't remember a "Thou shalt not use a turkey baster to become with child."

[treestar]

18. What's really odd is that when you think how pro life they

are in the reverse situation - it's counterintuitive, I guess, to realize they oppose AI - at least until you realize they are against interfering with God's will, which I suppose is the basis for opposing AI.

[geomon666]

13. I wonder if they wished her a Merry Christmas

Or just Happy Holidays...

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. but they kept priests on the payroll after they raped and molested...

[aquart]

20. Like Mary did?

[cbdo2007]

21. Um....I'm not taking the school's side here, but what does she expect when working

for assholes? She must have known this was going to cause a problem with them.

If you can only get a job with assholes and you don't want to lose your job, you're going to have to be careful what you share and don't share. I don't even work for assholes and I've never told my fellow employees my daughter is an IVF baby. It's none of their business.

[PeaceNikki]

22. "Dias was fired by the Rev. James Kiffmeyer, who was suspended in 2002 after being accused of sexual

misconduct with two male students at Fenwick High School, where Kiffmeyer was a teacher.

There was no criminal investigation because the men were 18 and adults at the time of the incidents in 1986 and 1990. The Archdiocese made a financial settlement with one accuser. The Vatican reviewed the cases but handed down no discipline."

Also- the archdiocese fought Dias’ attempt to collect unemployment benefits.

Nice.

From http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111226/NEWS010702/312270011/Baby-worth-legal-fight-church?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

[Charlemagne]

23. Name of the school

What school was she working at in the Archdiocese? I live in the archdiocese. Thanks.