NYT: Catholic School Teacher Says She Was Suspended for Surrogate Pregnancy

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Ministerial exception article in today's NYT. Excerpt:

 But 23 weeks into the pregnancy, on Sept. 12, Ms. Bonilla learned that she would be suspended from her current job as a kindergarten teacher at St. Mary, a Catholic school in Vineland, N.J. The reason, she says, was her surrogacy....

“They’re basically investigating whether I can or cannot do with my body what I want,” said Ms. Bonilla, who is a practicing Catholic.

Mr. Hogan did not respond to questions about his comments to Ms. Bonilla.

In 2024, Pope Francis labeled surrogacy “despicable” and called for a universal ban on the practice because of its “commercialization” of pregnancy. Catholic teaching also prohibits in vitro fertilization, an increasingly common treatment that is frequently used in surrogacy.

Ms. Bonilla declined to disclose the payments she had received for her surrogate pregnancies, citing the terms of those contracts. But fees for such a pregnancy can range vary, sometimes exceeding $50,000 plus medical expenses, according to a Columbia Law School report and people looking for surrogates in recent years.