Anti-Abortion Group Backs Fired Pregnant Teacher (from Catholic school)

ABC ^ | 2/20/06 | By JAKE TAPPER and AVERY MILLER

[Tanniker Smith]

I don't think this will be the last single teacher to get pregnant and it raises the chances that she will consider having an abortion.

Somehow, I think I find it even more repugnant to have a Catholic-school teacher that would consider having an abortion rather than carrying a child full-term just so she could keep a job teaching at a Catholic school.

Sadly, I don't know how you could screen for such things.

[Kaylee Frye]

She declared she was living with her boyfriend and had no intention of moving out.

Fascinating. Now, that does cast a different light on this...

However, I think the school should have stated they were firing her for living with her boyfriend vs for being pregnant outside of marriage. If it were just pregnancy outside of marriage, I agree with the others that she should be put in a non-student-facing job for the duration of the pregnancy.

But her obvious disregard for the rules puts a sour taste in my mouth.

[trashcanbred]

Somehow, I think I find it even more repugnant to have a Catholic-school teacher that would consider having an abortion rather than carrying a child full-term just so she could keep a job teaching at a Catholic school.

In my humble opinion pedophile priests and those who have shielded them are by far much worse than a single woman who made a mistake like getting pregnant. This woman gets fired and Cardinal Bernard Law is sent to Rome. I guess all sin IS NOT equal huh?

[delacoert]

She declared she was living with her boyfriend and had no intention of moving out.

Fascinating. Now, that does cast a different light on this...

From The case of Michelle McCusker: McCusker, 26, is suing the Diocese of Brooklyn and St. Rose of Lima school in Queens for dismissing her as a pre-kindergarten teacher last fall. That was two days after McCusker told her principal that she was three months pregnant and had no intention of marrying the father. The school praised her work and expressed sympathy, but said she had to leave because an unmarried pregnant woman is an inappropriate role model and authority figure in a Catholic school. Besides, the teachers’ personnel handbook says “a teacher is required to convey the teachings of the Catholic faith by his or her words and actions, demonstrating an acceptance of Gospel values and the Christian tradition.” McCusker signed a contract accepting that rule.

[linda_22003]

At least the teacher was demonstrably having *heterosexual* relations.

[trashcanbred]

It is too bad they cannot apply the same standard to Bernard Law.

[hellinahandcart]

Well, every later article I found today (I'm still trying to find those old threads :D) states that she's now living with her parents. Boyfriend, babydaddy, turkeybaster, or whatever is not mentioned at all.

But look what I did find:

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/13239713.htm

Now 26-year-old Michelle McCusker is suing, saying she was unfairly bounced just a month into her first full-time job as a pre-kindergarten teacher at St. Rose of Lima.

< big snip >...Two days after McCusker, a Catholic who graduated from St. John's University in the spring, told Andersen that she was three months pregnant, she lost her $30,000-a-year job and health insurance.

She was pregnant when she took the job. Bet she was aware of it too.

And I bet that as a Catholic, nothing in the moral guidelines in that personnel handbook was at all vague to her.

I'd love to know what sort of groups she belonged to at St. John's.

[hellinahandcart]

"On leave" doesn't mean "with pay." She should be offered the standard maternity leave, then she's on her own.

Last I heard, "standard maternity leave" in New York kicks in at two weeks before the due date and continues til six weeks after the birth.

So you're saying she should be on her own NOW? Cool.

[Saint Reagan]

Instead of firing her, maybe she would've been willing to speak to the kids and tell them that she made a big mistake by having sex before marriage but that she's also owning up to her error by having her baby.

I'm sure the pre-schoolers she taught would have been quite enthralled.

[pray4liberty]

I think some time off might be appropriate, but firing her sends a very negative message.

Agreed. She should have been put on some sort of maternity leave and have private counseling, along with the father, about their future and the future of their child. The Church does have an obligation to help people and encourage the couple to marry. Instead, it's easier to judge the unwed mother and throw her out in the street with no childbirth benefits or means of support for herself or her unborn child. This is mercy?

[pray4liberty]

Agreed. Some of the diehards around here would stone the Virgin Mary for adultery. She was an unwed mother, too, don't forget.

[antceecee]

Thanks for that comment. I love the Holy Mother... we all need to be humble and remember to forgive and pray for guidance.