A Southwest Airlines flight attendant who sued the airline and workers union in 2017 for discrimination after she was fired for sharing anti-abortion images of fetuses received a nearly $500,000 payout from the airline — and could receive another $500,000 in additional damages.
The award, issued April 10, comes after an appeals court ruled in October Charlene Carter was discriminated against by the Dallas-based airline and the local union when she was fired for sending “graphic images and videos of aborted fetuses” to the union president, according to court documents.
“Being a flight attendant is my livelihood and my passion, and union officials tried to manipulate company policy to upend my career simply because I spoke out about my most sincerely held beliefs,” Carter wrote in a statement.
A Southwest spokesperson declined to comment to KERA.
Carter, who had been employed with the airline for more than 20 years, became upset after members of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 556 attended the Women’s March on Washington in 2017.
She sent a video to then-union leader Audrey Stone on Facebook showing a fetus in a metal bowl and said the union was “supporting this Murder,” according to court records. Carter sent another message to Stone with a picture of a fetus in the palm of someone's hand. She followed up with messages about her anti-abortion and religious beliefs.
Stone reported the messages and Carter was fired.
“This case has been a long, hard fight, but I’ll never stop sticking up for what I know is right, and I hope that both my employer and TWU union bosses have learned that it doesn’t pay to stifle flight attendants’ freedom of religion and speech," she said.
After Carter sued, a federal jury found the airline and union violated Carter’s rights to religious belief and practice under the Civil Rights Act. In October 2025, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision while striking down a permanent injunction and contempt of court charge against the airline.
Court documents show Southwest paid Carter nearly $473,051 — including $150,000 in backpay and the rest in damages — earlier this month. Carter is owed $946,102 in total, but it wasn’t immediately clear how much the union is expected to pay.
The Transport Workers Union did not respond to requests for comment.
Carter was represented for free by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, an anti-union nonprofit, the group said in a press release.
“Ms. Carter was courageous in standing up to protect her religious and personal beliefs from the schemes of radical union officials and a compliant employer,” foundation President Mark Mix said.
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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