Rachel Laser

Rachel Laser is the President and CEO at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

As a religious minority – she was raised as a Reform Jew – Rachel personally understands 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.

Rachel has written op-eds for major publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, and appeared on high-profile media outlets, including MSNBC, Fox News, CNBC, and ABC.

Before joining AU, Rachel served as the deputy director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (the RAC), running interfaith campaigns on LGBTQ+ equality, immigration reform, gun-violence prevention, and paid sick, family and medical leave.

She 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 find shared values and work together on abortion and LGBTQ+ equality.

As senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), Rachel founded and ran the Pharmacy Refusal Project, which put protections in place to ensure that birth control prescriptions are filled – without delay or judgment. She advocated for judicial appointments with a proven record on women’s equality, and lobbied in favor of reproductive health bills.

Rachel is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School. She is also a former national board member of Reproductive Freedom for All (previously NARAL Pro-Choice America).

Rachel lives in Washington, D.C. She and her husband have three children and a dog, Teddy.