When Jadira Bonilla was just 18 years old, she knew that she wanted to be a surrogate someday. After watching a family member struggle with infertility, she hoped she could help others with the same difficulty. After marrying and having children of her own, Bonilla, a Catholic school teacher, matched with a family and carried their child. A few years later, she decided to do it for them again. This time, however, the new Catholic school where she works disapproved of her actions and put her on leave.
Bonilla told NJ.com she received notice that she would be placed on paid leave due to her surrogate pregnancy on September 12. The administration reportedly accused her of violating her contract at St. Mary School in Vineland, New Jersey.
“I’m not committing a crime, and I’m being punished as if I was, it’s hurtful,” Bonilla told NJ.com. “What I’m doing is to help a family out.”
Bonilla told WPVI that she first informed Principal Steven Hogan about her plans the previous school year. He allegedly had a crude response.
“I said, ‘Oh, I’m gonna be a surrogate.’ And he looks at me and says, ‘You’re renting your uterus?’” Bonilla recalled, per WPVI.
Hogan then told her she could not work at the school if she became pregnant through surrogacy. Bonilla has been at St. Mary for three years. She worked at a different Catholic school in Philadelphia during her first surrogacy with no issues.
Bonilla told WPVI that she asked Hogan repeatedly for a written statement explaining which part of the contract she had violated, but he never provided it to her.
She explained to NJ.com that if this school wants to remove her for surrogacy, there needs to be an equal penalty for employees using IVF to help them get pregnant. The Catholic Church considers both practices to be morally unacceptable. Surrogacy has been legal in New Jersey since 2018.
“If they’re going to penalize me, then they’re going to have to penalize every female employee that has done IVF to conceive their own children, because it’s the same thing. They go hand in hand,” Bonilla told the news outlet.
St. Mary School provided a statement to NJ.com regarding Bonilla’s pregnancy.
“We certainly understand Mrs. Bonilla’s concern. It has been our hope to meet with her to help her fully understand the Catholic Church’s teaching on surrogacy, but that has not happened as of yet,” the statement reads. “Mrs. Bonilla is a valued teacher and one we hope will one day again teach in our school with the full knowledge of our faith which guides our educational principles.”
The story has sparked a significant discussion, particularly among Catholics who stand in support of the teacher.
Brian Taff, a Catholic, made a compelling point in a social media post.
“Perhaps it’s my own naivete (as I’m sure many will gleefully point out), but it’s hard for me to see surrogacy as anything other than a most selfless, beautiful, life-giving gift, given from one human to another,” he shared on Facebook. “That seems entirely worth celebrating, rather than meeting with even an ounce of scorn.”
Followers thanked Taff for speaking up.
“As a Catholic woman who has not been able to have children, this woman is a blessing to the family she’s helping. This is one of the issues that needs to be updated to reflect the current world. In this case, she’s not insulting women, but helping one. God Bless her for helping a family,” someone commented on his post.
“Agree. It’s a slap in the face to every Catholic woman who has struggled for years to get pregnant, to no avail. To choose surrogacy as most likely a last resort should be a decision we all support,” another commenter agreed. “To have their church fail them and claim they are in violation of church doctrine is beyond disbelief.”
Hopefully, this school administration can open their hearts. Perhaps they will realize this teacher is giving the gift of life that a family so desperately wants. We need good people like Bonilla in our world now more than ever. What a blessing she is to the family she’s helping.
