In vitro, no one can hear you scream...

Kansas City Star: Teacher fired over in vitro fertilization

Kelly Romenesko was teaching French at two Roman Catholic schools in Appleton, Wis., when she and her husband decided to start a family using in vitro fertilization.

After asking for time off in September 2004 to complete the procedure, the lifelong Catholic gave her boss an update about a month later: She was pregnant.

Days after that, she said, she got a pink slip from the Catholic school system. Administrators, according to her attorney, James C. Jones, alleged that Romenesko violated a provision of her employment contract saying that a teacher has to act in accordance with Catholic doctrine.

“All she was trying to do was have a child, which of course should be a wonderful thing,” Jones said.

Violating the Natural Law is never a wonderful thing, shyster.

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 the destruction of embryos.

Wait a minute. Sexual intercourse between husband and wife warrants scare quotes when called natural by the Catholic Church? I guess turkey basters are more natural...

Even though the couple used their own eggs and sperm and no embryos were destroyed in the process, the church forbids such donations and condemns all forms of experimentation on human embryos.

First of all, conception outside the womb is monstrous. Second, prove nobody was killed. Third, this woman claims to be Catholic. Fourth, she knew the rules when she started teaching in Catholic schools.

Romenesko, 37, filed a discrimination complaint against Appleton Catholic Educational System Inc./Xavier, which runs seven Catholic schools in Appleton, about 100 miles north of Milwaukee.

An investigator from the Equal Rights Division of the state Department of Workforce Development upheld the firing in December, and Romenesko appealed. A hearing was set for Friday but was postponed, probably until September.

If the administrative law judge sides with Romenesko, the state could award payment for back wages, benefits, attorney fees and other expenses, Jones said.

School district president Tony Abts referred inquiries to lawyer Gregory Gill Sr., who didn’t immediately return a call. Diocese spokesman Tony Kuick did not return calls seeking comment.