Overview

• Jadira Bonilla, a 35-year-old kindergarten teacher at St. Mary School in Vineland, was placed on paid administrative leave on Sept. 12 after disclosing she is a gestational surrogate.
• Diocese of Camden officials told her she was possibly in violation of her contract and said an investigation was underway.
• Principal Steven Hogan called Bonilla a valued teacher and said Catholic teaching on surrogacy guides the school’s educational principles.
• Bonilla says neither surrogacy nor in vitro fertilization appear in her contract or handbook and that her requests for written justification went unanswered.
• Gestational surrogacy is legal in New Jersey under a 2018 law, and a 2023 state Supreme Court ruling allows religious entities to act in line with their faith even when state anti-discrimination rules would otherwise apply.