A New Jersey medical clinic has been hit with a federal civil rights suit after a sonogram technician allegedly called an African-American patient’s unborn child a “monkey.”

When the patient objected to the use of that term, the technician denied doing anything wrong and the clinic owner defended the term as a “silly colloquialism,” according to the plaintiff. The complaint cites a series of instances when using the term “monkey” toward a black person was deemed racist, including the recent cancellation of Roseanne Barr’s ABC television show after she posted an offensive tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former aide to President Barack Obama.