[FONT face=Verdana size=4]Woman says Catholic schools in a-ppleton fired her for in vitro fertilization [/FONT][/DIV][FONT face=Verdana size=4][/FONT] [/DIV][FONT face=Verdana size=2]A woman claims a Catholic school system in east central Wisconsin illegally fired her for having in vitro fertilization, which Catholic writings have called immoral.
Kelly Romenesko, 37, whose discrimination complaint is due for a hearing Friday, was teaching French at St. Joseph Middle School and Xavier High School, both in a-ppleton, when she asked for some time off in September 2004 to complete the procedure, her lawyer James C. Jones said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
About a month later, the lifelong Catholic told her boss she was pregnant. Days after that she was fired from the a-ppleton Catholic Educational System, Inc./Xavier, which runs seven Catholic schools in a-ppleton, about 100 miles north of Milwaukee.
The district claimed she violated a provision of her employment contract, which said a teacher has to act in accordance with Catholic doctrine, Jones said.
"All she was trying to do was have a child, which of course should be a wonderful thing," he said.
Romenesko, reached by phone Tuesday night, said her supervisor initially told her when she said she was undergoing the procedure that there could be a problem and advised her to consult her pastor. The pastor told her the procedure was against church doctrine but undergoing it shouldn't prevent her from staying in the church and teaching in the Catholic system.
Then came news of the pregnancy.
"I was thrilled. I expected them at least to be supportive," she said. "Four days after I announced my pregnancy, they decided to terminate me, and I just think that's wrong."
Romenesko tells her story on an Internet Web site, complete with pictures of her twin girls, Alexandria and Allison, born in March 2005, 21/2 months premature.
"We have been so fortunate with their health and everything," she said. "They're just doing superb. It's a miracle."
In vitro fertilization involves extracting eggs from a woman's ovaries and fertilizing them with sperm in a laboratory dish or test tube. The fertilized eggs are implanted into the woman's uterus.
Catholic teaching holds that the procedure is morally wrong because it replaces the "natural" conjugal union between husband and wife and often results in destruction of embryos. The church forbids the donation of eggs and sperm for such procedures and condemns all forms of experimentation on human embryos.
The issue was first highlighted in "Donum Vitae," a 1987 church instruction written by the cabinet of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, on "respect for human life in its origin and the dignity of procreation."
After being fired, Romenesko appealed through the school system's board, but the firing was upheld.
In July 2005 she filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Rights Division of the state Department of Workforce Development. An investigator upheld the ruling in December and Romenesko appealed. A hearing before an administrative law judge is set for Friday morning.
"I believe that discrimination occurred," Jones said, contending 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," he said.
Romenesko said others in the school system, including a board member, had children through the procedure without repercussions.
If the administrative law judge sides with Romenesko, the state could award payment for back wages, benefits, attorneys' fees and other expenses, Jones said.
He said it was important to note the couple used their own eggs and sperm and none of the embryos were destroyed in the process.
Mark Johnson, who teaches moral theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, said the 1987 document was the first serious official church writing on the subject, and modifications could be possible.
"This is brand spanking new stuff in the life of a church that is 2,000 years old," Johnson said, noting that the Vatican now is considering allowing the use of condoms to help battle AIDS in Africa despite its longtime opposition to contraceptive devices.
School and church officials either declined comment or couldn't be reached Tuesday.
School district president Tony Abts referred a reporter to the district's lawyer Gregory Gill Sr., who said in an e-mail that the reporter should call the Diocese of Green Bay. In an e-mail, diocese spokesman Tony Kuick said he couldn't comment about specifics of the case but he could talk about the church's position on in vitro fertilization. However, he didn't respond to another e-mail and calls from The Associated Press.
Romenesko said she now attends Lutheran services and holds a part-time job unrelated to teaching. She lives at Darboy, near a-ppleton, with her husband, Eric, and the girls.
On her Web site, she said she wanted to make her story public for the sake of her children and others born through the procedure.
"I want them to know that just because their parents had them through in vitro fertilization, that we are not evil sinners," she wrote.[/FONT]
