KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Jurors have ruled against a teacher who alleged that she was fired from a Catholic school in Kansas City, Missouri, because she was pregnant, unmarried and refused to have an abortion.
The Kansas City Star reports that jurors sided Wednesday with the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, which said St. Therese School teacher Michelle Bolen was let go in 2015 because of poor performance. Bolen testified that a priest told her that had she terminated her pregnancy, the school would not have to deal with the "scandal" of a pregnant, unmarried teacher.
Her attorney, E. E. Keenan, says state law exempts churches from being sued for pregnancy discrimination. Instead he argued that the diocese violated a state law that protects women from being fired for refusing to have an abortion.