INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A schoolteacher's lawsuit over her dismissal by a northern Indiana Roman Catholic diocese can proceed to trial this month after a federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of an appeal by the defendants.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld an order dismissing the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend's appeal of a September ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Miller Jr. allowing Emily Herx's lawsuit to go forward. The trial's due to begin Dec. 16.
Herx, of Hoagland, claims she was dismissed at Fort Wayne St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School because she tried to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization, a process involving mixing egg and sperm in a laboratory dish that's banned under Catholic doctrine.
A message seeking comment was left for a diocesan attorney.
