Shaela Evenson was a middle school teacher in Montana–a good one–at Butte Central Catholic Schools for 10 years. She taught literature and physical education and even though Evenson's principal describes her as an "excellent teacher," she has been fired. Why? Because she's pregnant. No, it's not a scandalous teacher/student kind of pregnancy. She's just pregnant. She's a consenting adult who got pregnat presumably with the help of another consenting adult. Nothing illegal there, so give a guess as to why you think her pregnancy got her fired?
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Evenson lost her job because someone sent in an anonymous letter to the school district letting them know that Evenson was with child even though she is not married. Apparently, when she was hired Evenson signed a contract which states that having sex outside of marriage is a no-no. It's a morality clause issue.
Evenson is planning to file a discrimination complaint against the school district, but who knows if she will win. Her firing may not be illegal. She did sign a contract and the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that religious employers are protected from certain discrimination lawsuits. I hope it is illegal to fire her regardless of the contract she signed, but I don't know how far hope will get an unwed pregnant Catholic school teacher in court.
You know what, though? Just because a thing isn't illegal, doesn't mean it's right. I think it is asinine in this day and age (in any day and age) to fire a woman for getting pregnant outside of wedlock, I don't care if you are a Catholic institution or not.
I'm not letting Evenson completely off the hook though. She shouldn't have signed that contract 10 years ago. It's wrong to sign certain rights away.
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