AU and the National Women’s Law Center Sue Missouri on Abortion Ban
On Thursday, January 19, AU and the National Women’s Law Center sued the state of Missouri for infringing religious freedom by banning abortions. St. Louis Chapter Board members joined AU President and CEO Rachel Laser and thirteen clergy from six different religious denominations in filing “Rev Blackmon v State of Missouri” in the Circuit Court for the City of St. Louis, asking that the court enjoin enforcement of Missouri’s comprehensive ban on abortions. If you are a member of AU, you should have already received an email about this historic action. More information about the basis of the suit and what you can do are available on the AU Website. The 83 page text of the suit can be found here. It requests a permanent injunction against enforcement of the abortion ban, and declaration that the law violates the constitution of Missouri.
April 23 and 24 was Earth Day at Forest Park in St. Louis. AU was there with an informational booth manned by Board members and volunteers on both days. The first day was warm and windy and the second was still warmish but not especially dry. A good crowd of people and dogs were there, just like old times. Many old and new friends dropped by to talk about church/state issues and to pick up literature. Volunteer Dave Eschmann and Board members Carol Bartell and and Hal Harris are in the picture.
At 7:00 CST on March 16, AU’s long-time (1992-2017) Executive Director had a Zoom dialog with our chapter. It was a pleasure to see our old friend and to hear his views on the present state of church/state relationships and current supreme court cases.
You may have seen work by Professor Randall Balmer, historian at Dartmouth, in Church and State, or seen him interviewed on PBS, and he had an op-ed, 
Our speaker this year was Representative Tracy McCreery, who talked with us about the status of critical church/state legislation, and our own experts on the bills gave us the latest news. We hope that we can do this in person in 2022.
We were delighted to have a Zoom featuring AU’s Executive Director, Rachel Laser, for a post-election discussion, on November 18 . A new administration does not mean that church/state issues are likely to be less difficult than they have been for four years. Furthermore, there is likely to be mischief between now and Inauguration Day. Rachel and Legal Director Richard Katskee gave us a comprehensive summary of the current and near-future activities of AU.
Professor Magarian teaches and writes about U.S. constitutional law, with emphasis on the freedom of expression. His first book, “Managed Speech: The Roberts Court’s First Amendment”, was published in 2017 by Oxford University Press.