Catholic School Fires Teacher for Being Single and Pregnant

Posted by Richard Blair, The All Spin Zone at 11:07 AM on February 13, 2008.

Why is it that the Catholic Church would rather have a single mother become unemployed and/or on welfare than either have an abortion or a job to provide for her child? When a diocese fires a single woman for becoming pregnant out of wedlock, that's the message they're sending.

This is one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations.

An unmarried 5th grade teacher at St. Felix school in Wabasha, Mn. found herself in an unfortunate position when she became pregnant. True to her faith, she decided against having an abortion - but then found herself on the short end of the employment stick. She was given the choice by school administrators to resign or be fired:

...after learning she was pregnant out of wedlock, she felt the right decision was to be honest with the school's principal.

"She told me that she was glad I made the right choice in telling her," Emily says.

She says after being asked by administration to write a letter to the school explaining what she had done, she was then asked by the principal and the school's priest to resign...

This isn't the first time that a teacher in a Catholic school was terminated because she wouldn't just keep her mouth shut and quietly have an abortion. In 2006, a teacher at St. Rose of Lima in Queens, NY was fired for violating a morality clause in her employment contract when she became pregnant out of wedlock.

Apparently, the Catholic Church would rather have a single mother become unemployed or on welfare than either have an abortion or a job to provide for her child.

Tagged as: discrimination, religion, abortion, pregnancy, catholic church

Richard Blair is the blogmaster of All Spin Zone.