The wall of separation between church and state protects us all. It makes our country more fair, more equal, and more inclusive. And reproductive health care is critical to women and their families. Women should decide for themselves if, when and how to start a family. Yet some employers, universities, insurance companies, hospitals, medical professionals, and pharmacies use religion as an excuse to deny women information about and access to this essential care.
Across the country, religion is being used as an excuse to block access to comprehensive insurance coverage, birth control, emergency contraception, fertility treatments, abortion care, and transition-related care.
Americans United fights efforts to use religion to undermine reproductive rights and to discriminate against women and LGBTQ people.
This is an online event using Zoom. Please register here.
About the speaker
Rachel Laser, President & CEO, Americans United
Rachel Laser is the President and CEO at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Rachel Laser is a lawyer, advocate and strategist who has dedicated her career to making our country more inclusive. She has a proven track record of uniting both faith and secular leaders and advocacy organizations to make tangible progress on some of the most important issues of our time.
And as a religious minority – she was raised as a Reform Jew – she understands personally how much it matters that our laws treat everyone fairly and equally. She is an advocate for racial justice and has led workshops, given speeches and worked with schools and universities to challenge racism and expose privilege.
As the deputy director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (the RAC), Rachel worked to further its historic mission of strengthening the separation of religion and government. She also ran interfaith campaigns on a number of critical issues, including LGBTQ equality, immigration reform, gun violence prevention, and paid sick, family and medical leave.
Before the RAC, Rachel directed the Culture Program at Third Way, a Washington, D.C., progressive think tank specializing in understanding and reaching moderates. There, she launched the "Come Let Us Reason Together" Initiative, which mobilized evangelical Christians and liberals to work together on critical issues including women’s reproductive freedom and LGBTQ equality. She also helped draft the first-of-its-kind common ground abortion bill to be introduced jointly by pro-life and pro-choice members of Congress.
As senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), Rachel founded and ran the Pharmacy Refusal Project which challenged pharmacists who were refusing to fill women’s birth control prescriptions in the name of religion. She also leveraged NWLC’s network to advocate for judicial appointments with a proven and positive record on women's issues, and lobbied in favor of reproductive health bills while working to educate members of Congress and NWLC members about the perils of anti-choice legislation.
Rachel is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School. She also serves as a national board member of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Her religion is an important part of her identity. “I believe that religion can provide guidance, ritual and structure for celebrating, reflecting on and dealing with life,” she says. At the same time, many in her immediate family identify as atheist or agnostic. “Some of the people I love and respect the most are non-believers. They are also some of the most moral, ethical and principled people I know.”
Rachel lives in Washington, D.C. She and her husband have three children and a dog, Teddy.