A Catholic school fired an unmarried teacher after she got pregnant and refused to have an abortion

News24xx.com -  A Catholic school fired an unmarried teacher after she got pregnant and then refused to have an abortion.

Michelle Bolen’s lawyers allege a priest at St Therese Catholic School in Kansas City, Missouri, praised her for refusing to terminate the pregnancy. 

But Father Joseph Cisetti is then said to have suggested to Bolen that had she gone against Catholic teaching and had an abortion, the school would not have had to deal with the scandal of an unmarried pregnant teacher.

Keenan says the teacher’s dismissal is a violation of the 1986 Missouri Abortion Act, which protects women from being fired for refusing to have an abortion. 

But lawyers for the Diocese of St Therese highlight Bolen’s employment contract. It states that ‘In carrying out these solemn responsibilities as a teacher, I will conduct myself in a manner that does not contradict her doctrinal and moral teachings (of the Catholic Church).’ 

It adds that Bolen should ‘carry out responsibilities faithfully and in accordance with the requirements of church law.’ 

Bolen had worked at the school for 15 years before being told that her contract was not being renewed for the 2015/16 academic year. 

Last Friday, former colleague Emily Keefe hit out at Bolen’s professional performance, and claimed that she often left her first-grade students unattended. 

 

 

 

 

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