D.C. assistant police chief says she was told to 'have an abortion or be fired'
The assistant police chief in Washington, D.C., one of 10 Black women who filed a class-action lawsuit last month against the city alleging widespread discrimination, said this week that as a cadet she was told she had to get an abortion to keep her job. “My choice to have a baby was personal, and it should’ve been mine alone and not for an employer ultimatum,” Chanel Dickerson said Tuesday at a community meeting. “I was told I had to have an abortion or be fired from the MPD cadet program.” She said she was 18 at the time. Chanel Dickerson. Courtesy Temple Law It was unclear what happened afterward, but Dickerson has been with the department since 1988, according to the department's website. Dickerson and the other former and current employees of the Metropolitan Police Department said in the lawsuit filed in September that they were discriminated against because of their race and gender, and that the division in charge of addressing harassment is run by a man who has expressed