Wabasha: Unmarried pregnant teacher loses job

Last update: February 13, 2008 - 8:46 PM

WABASHA, MINN. -- An unmarried fifth-grade teacher at the Catholic school in Wabasha is out of a job because she got pregnant.

Emily Prigge, 23, of Lake City, told her principal about her pregnancy last month. Prigge says the principal and a priest asked her to resign last week, and she did. Her pregnancy is about 15 weeks along.

Prigge was in her first year on the job at St. Felix school. When she took the job, she signed a Catholic Christian Witness Statement, where she agreed to set a good example as a Christian in her personal and academic life. Prigge, who is Catholic, says she was told that she didn't live up to the statement because she had premarital sex.

Officials at the school and the Diocese of Winona have declined to comment.

ASSOCIATED PRESS