Michele Curay-Cramer, 31, has accused the independent all-girls Catholic school of gender and pregnancy discrimination.

Her attorney, Thomas S. Neuberger, filed the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission District Office in Philadelphia. He claims that Curay-Cramer was dismissed because she is a woman supporting abortion rights.

Curay-Cramer was fired by the school Jan. 27 after her name appeared in a pro-choice advertisement in The News Journal celebrating the 30th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which upheld a woman's right to an abortion.

The 21-page complaint also alleges that Curay-Cramer's dismissal based on her abortion rights views violates the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prohibits firing an employee for having an abortion. The complaint contends that though Curay-Cramer herself didn't have an abortion, she is entitled to the act's protections because of her views supporting abortion.

"It's a slam-dunk," Neuberger said of the charges. "There are no exemptions for religious institutions for sexual discrimination."

Lawyers for Ursuline Academy, however, scoffed at Neuberger's claims. Anthony Picarello, vice president and general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington, D.C.-based public-interest law firm representing the school, said Neuberger filed the discrimination charges with the EEOC in order to seek a right to sue.

The EEOC reviews employment discrimination cases and tries to reach a settlement between two parties through mediation. However, if mediation doesn't work and a plaintiff's charges are found to be valid, the commission would issue a letter of determination calling for conciliation, said Edward McCaffrey, program analyst for the EEOC District Office. McCaffrey said if conciliation doesn't work, the EEOC could file a lawsuit against an employer on behalf of the employee. He said a discrimination investigation could take five to six months to complete.

Neuberger indicated that he would wait the required six months and file a lawsuit, regardless of the EEOC's findings. He said filing with the EEOC district office was "a necessary step before going to court."

Picarello said that if the case does go to court, "we will be defending the school vigorously."

"The school is not going to change its mind" on Curay-Cramer's firing, he said. Picarello said a religious institution is protected by the Constitution in the hiring and firing of employees.

"That's a special right a religious institution has," he said.