The Middle Ages Are Far From Over

The Catholic Church believes it has dominion over a woman's uterus. Not just where abortion is concerned; the exact opposite of abortion, getting pregnant and giving birth (after in-vitro fertilization), is also against church doctrine, and thus a fireable offense.

Kelly Romenesko was teaching French at two Roman Catholic schools in Appleton when she and her husband decided to start a family using in vitro fertilization. After asking for some time off in September 2004 to complete the procedure, the lifelong Catholic gave her boss an update about a month later: She was pregnant.

But only days after that, she said, she got a pink slip by the Catholic school system. Administrators, according to her lawyer James C. Jones, claimed Romenesko violated a provision of her employment contract saying a teacher has to act in accordance with Catholic doctrine.

How is this pro-life, exactly? Romenesko is suing, and I hope she wins.