Sunday, April 29, 2012

'You're a grave immoral sinner': Married Catholic teacher fired for using IVF after she found out she was infertile

A married Catholic school teacher is suing the diocese she works for, claiming they fired her for undergoing IVF treatments, calling her a 'grave immoral sinner'. 

Emily Herx, who worked for the St Vincent de Paul School in Indiana, said a senior official at the school fired her when she told him about her attempts to get pregnant through IVF. 

She and her husband Brian turned to the treatment when she found out she was infertile.

Mrs Herx taught literature and language arts at the school from 2003 until 2011.

She was well regarded and received high marks when assessed, according to the federal lawsuit filed in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

According to ABC Mrs Herx learned in 2010 that she suffers from a diagnosed medical condition which causes infertility.

When she told the principal at the time that she needed time off to receive the IVF treatments, he allegedly told her: 'You are in my prayers', and granted her the time off.

But in May last year, when she was going for her second round of fertility treatments and again asked for time off, she was told to report to Msgr John Kuzmich, the pastor of the St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

According to court documents, it was at that meeting, which Mrs Herx attended with her husband and father, that Msgr Kuzmich called her a 'grave, immoral sinner' and added that if news of her IVF treatments got out it would cause a 'scandal' for the church.

The Catholic church disapproves of fertility treatments because additional embryos that are created to increase the chances of success are then destroyed, which is a violation of Catholic doctrine regarding the sanctity of embryonic life.

Mrs Herx then appealed again to Bishop Kevin Rhodes and assured him that no embryos were destroyed during her treatment.

According to the civil complaint, he said to her: 'The process of in vitro fertilization very frequently involves the deliberate destruction or freezing of human embryos. In vitro fertilization...is an intrinsic evil, which means that no circumstances can justify it.'

It is not known whether or not Mrs Herx has been able to conceive through her second batch of IVF.

Emily's lawyer Kathleen DeLaney told ABC that her client was'terminated only for trying to enlarge her family with husband' and that she was traumatized from the incident.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that the religious institutions are exempt from discrimination laws in hiring clergymen. 

For example, the Catholic church cannot be sued for failing to hire women priests because it conflicts with fundamental Church doctrine.

Ms DeLaney said: 'The facts in this case are distinguishable. There is no ministerial exception. Mrs Herx didn't have religious training, did not teach religious doctrine.'

Earlier this month, Christa Dias, 32, was given the go ahead to take her diocese to court after they fired her for becoming pregnant by artificial insemination.

Ms Dias was fired by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 2010 after she told them she was five-and-a-half-months pregnant and needed maternity leave.

They at first tried to fire her simply for being pregnant and single, but realized they would be violating federal and state anti-discrimination laws.

So instead they decided the single mother violated Roman Catholic Church doctrine by using artificial insemination - which is considered a 'gravely immoral act' by the Catholic church.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Spiegel said in his ruling that Dias was a non-Catholic computer teacher with no role in ministering or teaching Catholic doctrine.

An archdiocese spokesman says that parents who pay to send their children to Catholic school expect them to be taught in an environment reflecting Catholic moral teaching and that employee contracts specify they will abide by church teachings.