OH teacher fired while pregnant to testify
Source: Associated Press
OH teacher fired while pregnant to testify
By LISA CORNWELL, Associated Press | May 29, 2013 | Updated: May 29, 2013 1:29am
CINCINNATI (AP) A teacher fired after becoming pregnant through artificial insemination was expected to tell jurors her version of events as the trial in her lawsuit against a Roman Catholic archdiocese and two of its schools entered its second day.
Christa Dias has sued the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the schools over her 2010 dismissal, contending they fired her simply because she was pregnant and unmarried. Her attorney, Robert Klingler, told a federal jury in opening statements Tuesday that the firing violated federal law prohibiting pregnancy discrimination. The trial was set to continue on Wednesday.
The archdiocese's attorney, Steve Goodin, told jurors "there was no discrimination," saying Dias was fired for violating a contract that he says required her to abide by Catholic doctrine. The archdiocese has said that artificial insemination violates that doctrine and is immoral.
Dias, who is not Catholic, alleges in her lawsuit that church policy is not enforced equally against men and women. A man formerly employed in youth ministry at a suburban Dayton parish within the archdiocese testified in a sworn video deposition Tuesday. He testified that some church officials were aware that he and his wife used artificial insemination when they were trying to have a child and that he was not fired or disciplined in any way.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/OH-teacher-fired-while-pregnant-to-testify-4555603.php
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)demwing
(16,916 posts)What else disgust you?
SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)That about covers it...I see no purpose in religion other than for folks to use as a crutch & as the ultimate method of lying to one's self.
Not to mention how religion screws over women, homosexuals & those who don't buy into a certain brand of religion or religion at all...Then there is the political ramifications.
lindysalsagal
(20,440 posts)All of them political.
Gore1FL
(21,030 posts)The whole God thing is difficult enough to wrap my head around. Religious dogma has played a negative role throughout history.
marshall
(6,661 posts)That would make a difference in the church's attitude toward his case.
Teacher is female.
Amaril
(1,267 posts)...there was another employee -- a man -- who used artificial insemination when he & his wife were trying to get pregnant, and he was not fired or disciplined in any way.
marshall
(6,661 posts)"Homologous artificial insemination within marriage cannot be admitted except for those cases in which the technical means is not a substitute for the conjugal act but serves to facilitate and to help so that the act attains its natural purpose."
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html
I can't find any information about whether this man's case (the one she is using to suggest unfair treatment) involved homologous or heterologous artificial insemination.
lindysalsagal
(20,440 posts)No exceptions. Amen.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)sacred than the sperm she procured. Truly.
MissB
(15,800 posts)It's hard to imagine that being a successful argument.
Orrex
(63,085 posts)Shame! Shame!
skamaria
(325 posts)Orrex
(63,085 posts)Shame! Shame!
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)csziggy
(34,120 posts)The theory of gravidy. Not binding if it's not a law.
Sheldon Cooper
(3,724 posts)surprised that the Catholic church, of all things, doesn't support the practice of having children born out of wedlock by artifical insemination. Honestly, did she really think they were going to be cool with this? Especially in a teaching position, where they are supposed to be role models for the children.
Having said that, I hope she wins on grounds of discrimination under federal law. And by the way, I also know a very devout Catholic couple who conceived twins through artificial insemination, with their priest's consent. Everyone in both of their extremely devout families was okay with this, as well. (One of the grandmothers used to be a nun, that's how religious they are.) The husband's sperm was used, if that makes any difference.
PSPS
(13,512 posts)I went to catholic school and nobody ever said Mary was "married" to God or rode His Magic Pony.
SnowCritter
(808 posts)she was Jewish.
lindysalsagal
(20,440 posts)If Mary gets one, I get one!!!!!
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)seeing as its a school run by the Catholic church?
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)going to win on the 1st amendment, it never would have gotten to a jury--it would have been dismissed, pre-trial.
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)as part of her contract stating that she'll abide by church doctrine while she is an employee
first of all, she's an unwed mother; 2nd, she used artificial insemination to become pregnant
two big no-no's for Catholics
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)dlwickham
(3,316 posts)unless it contained something blatantly illegal
you have to remember this is a Catholic school and religious schools are given a lot of leeway by the government
it's still a freedom of religion issue-can a religious school force their employees to abide by church doctrine even if those employees aren't members of that church and it's generally been decided that schools can
lindysalsagal
(20,440 posts)I have no idea if the freedom of reproduction will be one of those, since it doesn't actually threaten children: It only threatens church doctrine.
It may depend on where the case is tried. She'd win in new york, maybe not in south carolina or nebraska.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Here's what you have to remember: luckily, our laws regarding pregnancy do not allow an employer to pick and choose between which pregnancies they like, and which they don't. Church doctrine does not allow for discrimination, nor violation of equal protection.
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)a teacher can't be openly gay and keep his or her job
see the case of the PE teacher, also in Ohio
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)for pregnant women, they won't be able to. You are conflating protected persons.
dembotoz
(16,739 posts)ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)what did she expect? (no pun intended)
Artificial insemination aside, I couldn't even get my kid baptized in the stupid church because she was born out of wedlock.
mainstreetonce
(4,178 posts)For the church to get out of the education business.
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)Our sons went to a Catholic high school, even though we aren't Catholic. Very good fit for them, for various reasons.
Nimajneb Nilknarf
(319 posts)A person who is pregnant to testify can provide a great wealth of information in a courtroom.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)lindysalsagal
(20,440 posts)Baby=good?
Baby=bad?
dflprincess
(28,057 posts)The Church maintains that any "artificial" interference with conception (or its contra-) is meddling with "God's Plan".
I'm not agreeing with or defending them, just explaining how they rationalize this.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)law.