Rachel Laser: Biography

Rachel Laser

Deputy Director

Rachel Laser is the RAC's Deputy Director. Ms. Laser has a diverse background in policy advocacy, coalition-building, message development and political strategy. She served as Senior Vice President at Hattaway Communications and as Director of the Culture Program at Third Way, a Washington, DC progressive think tank specializing in understanding and reaching moderates.

At Third Way, she launched the Come Let Us Reason Together Initiative, which mobilized evangelical Christians and progressive activists to work together on divisive social issues. She was the architect of the first-ever pro-choice/pro-life abortion bill in Congress, which included comprehensive sex education, broader access to birth control, and increased support for pregnant women and new parents. Rachel also founded and led Third Way's gay equality initiative, which contributed innovative research and strategy on how to win moderates' support for marriage equality and other GLBT equality issues.

Prior to Third Way, Rachel served as Senior Counsel at the National Women's Law Center in the Health and Reproductive Rights Group, where she founded the Pharmacy Refusal Project, and as General Counsel for Planned Parenthood Metropolitan Washington. She also worked as an associate at a leading DC law firm and clerked for the Honorable Peter J. Messitte on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Maryland. She is a graduate of Harvard University, and of the University of Chicago Law School, where she served on the Law Review.

Rachel enjoys spending time with her husband and three children and serving as a mentor to young women who share her professional interests. One of her favorite people and teachers of all times was Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, who was her childhood Rabbi at K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Congregation in Chicago, and who officiated at her Bat Mitzvah, confirmation and wedding.