Doctor Demanded Receptionist Have Abortion For Sake Of His 'Image,' Lawsuit Claims

It's illegal in this country to discriminate against a pregnant woman, and that includes telling a pregnant woman that she has to get an abortion to keep her job. But a doctor's receptionist claims that happened when she got pregnant early last year. When she refused to have the abortion, according to her lawsuit, the doctor fired her.

Christina Garcia, now 18, was hired as an $11-an-hour receptionist at ID Doctors in Bedford, Texas, in August 2010, the lawsuit states. Seven months later, she claims that she told the doctor, Meenakshi Prabhakar, that she was pregnant, Courthouse News reports.

Prabhakar, an infectious disease specialist who's been licensed in Texas since 1997, allegedly told Garcia that her pregnancy "wasn't a good image for him," reports CBS 11. "I was very upset," she said. "I started crying."

The doctor allegedly told her that she would need to get an abortion to keep her job, and that he would pay for it, along with her college expenses and any counseling that she needed, if she would start taking birth control pills.