The meeting that was to be at The Heights, has been postponed to Saturday evening April 27, 7:00-9:00 pm. This will be a meeting and a party, open to members only, at a private residence.  Bring a treat or a snack, and we will provide the beverages. RSVP to pres@stlau.org to get the address. It will feature an update on our lawsuit against the state of Missouri by Denise Lieberman, AU’s local attorney for the case, and comments by some of the plaintiffs.    We will also have a report on the status of bills in the Missouri legislature that impinge on church/state separation.

The business meeting will include an update on our finances, plans for the annual picnic and other activities, and the election of new Board members.

On January 25, our Chapter Treasurer, Hal Harris, presented an update on the status of the suit by AU and the Women’s Law Center against the state of Missouri to the Phelps County Democratic Club.  (AU is a non-partisan educational organization, but we present factual information to the public regardless of political affiliation.) We are suing on the ground that Missouri’s comprehensive and cruel abortion ban infringes on freedom of religion. The Missouri defendants (including the Governor, the Attorney General, and the health-related officers of the State) have tried to claim that the plaintiffs do not have standing and that judge should issue a summary judgement against us.  The claim that we did not have standing was dismissed within two weeks, but the second motion is under consideration.  A ruling was expected “in January”, but has not so far been issued. Any day now …

On Thursday, November 9, Brian Silva, Vice President of Outreach and Engagement for AU, described the current status of our lawsuit to strike down Missouri’s abortion ban as a clear violation of the Missouri state constitution.  The talk wasco-sponsored by us, Women’s Voices for Social Justice and the National Council of Jewish Women in St. Louis.  It was an excellent illustrated lecture, with many good questions afterward.  A crowd of about 100 attended. The next step is a hearing on November 16 at 11:00 in the Carnahan Municipal Courthouse in St. Louis, where the AG will attempt for the second time to have the suit thrown out. The same judge will be hearing the same arguments again, so we have every expectation of prevailing as we did last summer, but this is Missouri, so you never know.

A persuasive op-ed appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on July 24, 2023. Its authors are L. Lewis Wall and Douglas Brown, Emeritus Professors in the Washington University School of Medicine. They describe the ways in which the “personhood” claim relative to abortion riights violates the religious liberties of citizens. All of this is relevant to our suit against the state of Missouri. Read (or listen to) the whole essay here.

 

The St. Louis Chapter held its Annual Meeting virtually on April 27, 2023.  We were updated by our guest speakers. Michelle Henry (left), is the lead AU attorney in the lawsuits in Missouri and Kentucky challenging abortion bans on the basis that they violate church-state provisions in the state constitutions. Alex Luchenitser (right), Interim AU Legal Director, reported the status of other AU suits and amicus briefs.

We hope you were able to join us on the 27th!   If you are on our mailing list, you should have already received a message about this, which was to include the Zoom link. Unfortunately, there was a glitch in that process, and we are not able to provide it.