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Buyer's Remorse? Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich Blasts State for Healthcare Worker Abortion Mandate

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  December 19, 2025 7:30 AM

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich is a Leftist of the Catholic Church. He's one who cracked down hard on the Latin Mass in his diocese, effectively ending the traditionalist practice in and around Chicago. He's an opponent of President Trump, a supporter of immigration, and hardly a conservative.

Now he's learning that the Democratic Party isn't a friend of the Catholic Church, no matter how liberal you are. He's joined forces with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to file an amicus brief against the state of Illinois in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Treto.

Why? Because the state of Illinois is trying to force all healthcare workers to aid in abortions and to punish those who object.

Here's more from Becket:

On December 16, 2025, Becket filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the Catholic bishops of Illinois, the Illinois Catholic Health Association, and two Orthodox Church bodies. The brief argues that, while the pro-life pregnancy centers and doctors should prevail under the First Amendment rule against government compelling speech, there is an even simpler way to decide the case. It urges the court to reaffirm that, in the Anglo-American legal tradition, protections for speech first developed to safeguard religious speech; and for that reason, governments have never been permitted to force religious groups to voice a message they do not believe. The court should ensure that Illinois is not allowed to do so here.

For the Catholic Conference of Illinois, being required to speak positively about abortion risks confusing the faithful and weakening the Church’s public witness. For the Illinois Catholic Health Association, which includes Catholic hospitals and healthcare ministries, the mandate threatens the integrity of the healing work they carry out every day, forcing them to contradict the very mission that animates their service. And for the Orthodox Church in America and Serbian Orthodox Church, minority religious groups whose teachings are not always widely understood, government-forced speech creates the danger of pressure and misunderstanding that can chill its ministry.

Cupich continues:

Here's what this means for Catholic healthcare workers in Illinois.

Remember: Democrats say abortion (or "gender-affirming care") is a decision between a woman and her doctor. But now suddenly, the state can mandate what healthcare providers tell patients about abortion.

In Illinois, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, pro-life ministries are under attack.

It's very hard to make this argument when you've spent years undermining other parts of Catholic teaching, Cupich, but he's not wrong.

Pope Francis was right about that, too.

The Catholic Church has joined with the Orthodox Church in America and the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of New Gračanica-Midwestern America.

Pope Leo recently met with Governor Pritzker as well.

But Democrats hate Catholicism and love abortion. They will keep pushing until abortion is the norm and pro-life organizations are shuttered, including the Catholic Church.