Christa Dias, former technology coordinator at Holy Family and St. Lawrence Catholic schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, claims she was fired for becoming pregnant using artificial insemination, Cincinnati.com reports.
According to the report, the schools initially fired Dias for being pregnant while single, but then changed their reasoning to being pregnant from artificial insemination, which they claim violates Catholic teaching as well as her employment contract.
"I've always wanted to have a baby," Dias told the publication. "I've always known that. That's why I became a teacher, because I love kids. I didn't think it would be a problem."
Dias sued the schools for discrimination April, but the case has been put on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a similar case.
In their coverage of the incident, the blog Getreligion.org referenced a sidebar in the printed version of the article, which they say illustrate specifically the school claims against Dias:
CONTRACT CLAUSE DIAS AGREED TO WHEN HIRED
The teacher will "comply with and act consistently in accordance with the stated philosophy and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the policies and directives of the School and the Archdiocese."
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, SECTION 2376
"The gift of a child"
"Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple – donation of a sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus – are gravely immoral. These techniques – heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization – infringe the child’s right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses’ ‘right to become a father and a mother only through each other.' "
While the schools claim Dias' dissmisal was not discriminatory, but the product of a violation of a legal contract, her attorneys argue that the same standards are not enforced on men who provide the sperm for artificial insemination.
Earlier this month, 33-year-old Jennifer Cox claimed she was fired from her job as a website manager at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Britain after morning sickness and doctors appointments forced her to take time off, the Telegraph reported.
"I had made the decision to notify my line manager, thinking that honesty was the best policy, which I now regret," Cox told the paper.
Cox's case is set to be concluded after the new year.