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Office Depot apologizes after refusing to copy woman's anti-abortion flier
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Office Depot has apologized to a Roman Catholic woman who claimed religious discrimination after store employees reportedly refused to print copies of her anti-abortion flier.
According to The Associated Press, Maria Goldstein of Rolling Meadows, Illinois, recently brought the flier – titled "A Prayer for Planned Parenthood" – to an Office Depot in Schaumburg, a Chicago suburb. The document featured a prayer, written by the Rev. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, which asks God to "bring an end to the killing of children in the womb, and bring an end to the sale of their body parts." The flier also included statistics about abortion and Planned Parenthood.
Goldstein said that when she asked workers to make 500 copies of the flier, they refused, saying it violated company policy. A company spokeswoman said Office Depot forbids "the copying of any type of material that advocates any form of racial or religious discrimination or the persecution of certain groups of people" and copyrighted material.
Employees reportedly told Goldstein that she could use a self-serve copy machine, but she declined and went to another copy shop.
"I feel discriminated against," said Goldstein, whose lawyer contacted Office Depot last week, asking the company to re-evaluate its policy and complete Goldstein's request.
On Friday, Office Depot Chairman and CEO Roland Smith apologized in a statement.
"We sincerely apologize to Ms. (Maria) Goldstein for her experience, and our initial reaction was not at all related to her religious beliefs," he said. "We invite her to return to Office Depot if she still wishes to print the flier."
In response to the numerous comments that we have recently received regarding the printing of documents in one of our...
Posted by Office Depot on Friday, September 11, 2015
