New Jersey Catholic teacher placed on leave over surrogacy pregnancy

A South Jersey Catholic school teacher has been placed on paid leave after informing her principal that she was carrying a couple’s surrogate baby, according to local reports. Jadira Bonilla, 35, is a kindergarten teacher at St. Mary School in Vineland. She was placed on paid leave on Sept. 12 after officials said she might have violated her employment contract and the school’s stated educational principles, NJ.com reported.

Bonilla has described the surrogacy arrangement as a way to help a family. She noted that the school's contract and employee handbook did not address surrogacy or in vitro fertilization, and she did not understand why her pregnancy would conflict with her job. During a meeting, the school's principal, Steven Hogan, told her she could not continue teaching at the school while carrying another couple’s child, but he did not provide written documentation of the decision.

Hogan, while describing Bonilla as a valued teacher, said the Catholic Church’s stance on surrogacy guides the school’s educational principles. The church’s opposition to surrogacy, rooted in concerns about the unity of marriage, informs how the institution views such arrangements, though representatives have not publicly elaborated on administrative policy in writing to Bonilla. The school has said staff contracts do not typically spell out every reproductive arrangement, and it has emphasized the need to uphold its faith-based framework in staffing decisions. Bonilla has indicated that she had previously served as a surrogate at another Catholic school and did not anticipate being penalized for a similar arrangement, a detail she said the Vineland school's documents did not address.

On Sept. 12, about a week after Bonilla told her superiors she was pregnant as a surrogate, she was summoned to a meeting with officials from the Diocese of Camden. Those officials informed her that she might be violating her contract and would be placed on leave pending an investigation. Bonilla recalled feeling upset but said she remains committed to her work with students and expressed disappointment at not receiving written documentation detailing the decision. The Diocese and the school said they would seek to mediate a better understanding of the church’s teaching on surrogacy, and Hogan stated that Bonilla is a valued educator who could return to the classroom with a clear understanding of faith-based expectations.

The case unfolds as broader questions about the intersection of religious employment norms and reproductive choices continue to surface in the state. In 2023, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that religious entities can, in certain contexts, follow faith-based policies without being required to apply state anti-discrimination laws. The decision hinged on a Kenilworth Catholic school case in which an unmarried, pregnant teacher was terminated; the ruling concluded that religious institutions may be exempt from some discrimination laws when applying their faith-based practices. Advocates for workers have cautioned that such rulings create uneven protections for employees in faith-based settings, while supporters say they preserve the ability of religious institutions to operate according to their beliefs.

Bonilla has received widespread support from many parents at St. Mary School, who have publicly voiced sympathy for her situation and for her surrogacy work, described by Bonilla as a means to help families build their dreams of parenthood. She is currently about 25 weeks pregnant with the couple’s child and has previously carried another baby for a different family. She said she loves teaching and misses being in the classroom, adding that the episode has been painful and stressful.

St. Mary School did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. The situation underscores ongoing debates over how faith-based schools balance doctrine with the rights and realities of modern families, and it highlights the potential health and logistical implications for a teacher navigating pregnancy in a highly structured, faith-centered workplace.