As the Catholic bishops of Illinois recently filed a friend-of-the-court brief for a religious liberty lawsuit, Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, wrote a strongly worded Dec. 16 X thread about the threat faced by local pro-life healthcare ministries imposed by a state mandate.
“The Church’s pro-life mission is under attack in Illinois. The State is pushing an aggressive mandate seeking to punish healthcare workers who refuse to aid and abet abortion,” Cardinal Cupich wrote. “The Catholic bishops of Illinois are standing side by side with these conscientious objectors to stop this inhumane mandate.”
Because of this, he said, the bishops of the state filed on Dec. 16 an amicus curiae brief in the lawsuit National Institute of Family Life Advocates v. Treto, which Cardinal Cupuch described as a suit “challenging Illinois’ assault on religious liberty.”
The state mandate requires medical professionals who do not commit abortions because it would violate their conscience to speak to women “about the supposed ‘benefits’ of abortion and refer them to abortion providers,” Cardinal Cupich explained, adding that those who refuse “lose key legal protections.”
The statement from Cardinal Cupich comes several months after a controversy about an archdiocesan award and a pro-abortion senator. Cardinal Cupich had supported the Chicago archdiocese’s plan to present Sen. Dick Durbin, a strongly pro-abortion politician, with a “lifetime achievement award” for his support to immigrants at a Nov. 3 fundraiser for the archdiocese’s immigration ministry. Durbin decided in September to decline the award in the wake of the controversy.
In the Dec. 16 statement, Cardinal Cupich criticized the state for forcing pro-life ministries to engage in speech contrary to the truth that life is sacred.
“Catholic pro-life ministries in Illinois are now in the government’s crosshairs. These ministries exist to offer life-affirming care to mothers, children, and families in need, rooted in the belief that every person is made in the image of God,” he wrote. “But Illinois is now demanding that they speak a message that contradicts this eternal truth and the very purpose of their ministry. That is a line faithful Catholics cannot cross.”
He quoted the late Pope Francis, who said that “every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to be aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ.”
Cardinal Cupich added, “We must never surrender to governing authorities who command us to say otherwise.”
Cardinal Cupich said in the Dec. 16 X thread that the Illinois bishops “were honored to be joined in that effort by our brother bishops from two Eastern Orthodox Churches — the Orthodox Church in America and the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of New Gračanica-Midwestern America. We are grateful for their solidarity in the cause of life.”
He added that the Illinois Catholic Health Association joined the brief and noted that its “ministries serve countless families across the state with compassionate, life-affirming care.”
According to Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which prepared the brief on behalf of the bishops, the state legislature amended its Health Care Right of Conscience Act in 2016 to require physicians who do not commit abortions out of conscience objections to refer women to a list of abortion providers and speak to them about “benefits” of abortion. Becket states that physicians who refuse to engage in pro-abortion speech will lose “the legal immunity that protects them from malpractice suits, discrimination claims, and enforcement actions by the state licensing board.” A group of pro-life pregnancy centers and doctors is challenging this law through the suit that has been ongoing for several years, according to Becket.
Becket noted that for the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the bishops’ public policy arm, “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,” Becket added, “forcing them to contradict the very mission that animates their service.”
In a follow-up Dec. 17 X post, Cardinal Cupich wrote: “The question before the court is simple: Can the government compel citizens to say what they do not believe? Can it force pro-life healthcare ministries to advertise or facilitate a practice they hold to be gravely wrong? Our laws, and basic human decency, have always said no.”
He quoted Pope Leo XIV stating that the Church has a responsibility to walk with all people, particularly the most vulnerable, and protect human dignity from conception until natural death.
“The Catholic bishops of Illinois will not abandon the faithful healthcare professionals fighting to protect all life,” Cardinal Cupich wrote. “As Christmas draws near, I ask Catholic faithful across America to continue praying for an end to the scourge of abortion.”
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