(LifeSiteNews) — A pro-life flight attendant continued her battle for justice against Southwest Airlines and her own union.

Attorneys for Southwest Airlines, the Transport Workers Union, and Charlene Carter were back in court on June 3 as part of an appeal of a $5 million judgement in favor of the pro-life flight attendant.

Carter, who is post-abortive, was fired after she shared her pro-life views and opposed the union using her fees to promote political causes with which she disagreed. The union used member dues, money that comes out of the paychecks of their workers, to fund a trip for its leaders to the pro-abortion Women’s March in 2017, as LifeSiteNews previously reported. Carter left the union in 2013 but still had to pay some fees.

A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the appeal of Southwest and Transport Workers Union 556.

Southwest said Carter was fired for her “conduct of sending harassing graphic messages to a co-worker,” during the June 3 hearing, the company’s attorney claimed.

One of the graphic messages was a video explaining what happens during an abortion. “This is what you supported during your Paid Leave with others at the Women’s MARCH in DC,” she wrote to union president Audrey Stone.

READ: Google bans viral video showing former abortionist describing how abortions are done

However, the messages she sent were to the union president who is also a flight attendant. She sent the messages to object to the union’s support for the Women’s March.

Southwest’s argument appeared to receive a rebuke from Judge Cory Wilson. The company “went through her personal Facebook feed, found things it didn’t like, and then fired her,” Judge Wilson said during the hearing.

The airlines claimed it only combed through the messages after a complaint from union president Audrey Stone. Southwest argued it had fired someone else who had spoken out against people who didn’t want to join the union.

Southwest Airlines did not respond to a June 6 LifeSiteNews inquiry for comment on the hearing and lawsuit.

TWU 556 also did not respond to a June 6 email. LifeSiteNews asked for comment on the lawsuit and to address potential criticism that the union is siding with management against its own member.

A federal judge has also ordered Southwest to take an eight-hour course on religious liberty from Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit Christian legal group. However, that order is currently frozen, due to a June 7 ruling that stayed the requirement. Carter challenged the way Southwest portrayed the judgement in an internal memo.

But the National Right to Work Foundation, which is supporting Carter, said the June 7 decision “does not at all change the central facts of Ms. Carter’s case nor Southwest’s defiance of the judge’s original order.”

“The jury found and the judge ruled that Southwest’s firing of Ms. Carter was discriminatory and directly linked to her speech protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and her speech criticizing union officials, and after that the company released notices to its employees that effectively expressed the exact opposite of what the District Court ordered the airline to communicate regarding its unlawful and discriminatory behavior,” President Mark Mix told LifeSiteNews in a media statement.

‘Both the facts and the law are on Ms. Carter’s side,’ legal group says

The legal group, prior to the June 7 ruling but after the hearing, said it is clear the flight attendant was fired for her religious beliefs.

“We believe both the facts and the law are on Ms. Carter’s side and that the panel understood her arguments,” Vice President Patrick Semmens told LifeSiteNews via a media statement.

“Both Title VII and the Railway Labor Act are perfectly clear about workers’ right to speak on religious topics and criticize union officials without reprisal, and the record shows that Ms. Carter’s engagement in this protected behavior is precisely why Southwest fired her,” Semmens said.

The foundation also responded to the claims of harassment by Southwest, levied against Carter.

Semmens stated:

Southwest still appears to be relying on the argument that its internal policies regarding what counts as “harassment” of an employee can be used to trump federal law and go after employees who engage in religious speech the union and company don’t like. This position is outrageous, and it should be remembered that Ms. Carter was simply registering her dissent to what union officials, whose salary she is required to pay by law, were doing with her money in her name.

The legal group also said employees should have concerns that their union is working with Southwest to silence dissent.

“Southwest and TWU appear to be taking the position that they can work together to silence dissent against the union for any reason,” Semmens stated.

“That should be a grave concern to employees of all stripes.”