Sandra Fluke

Sandra Kay Fluke (born April 17, 1981) is an American feminist activist and law student at Georgetown University Law Center, who testified before a panel of House Democratic Party members in favor of a government policy which required insurance policies to provide contraceptive coverage. She is a past president of the school’s Students for Reproductive Justice group.
Biography
Before attending Georgetown, she graduated from Cornell University in 2003 and spent five years working for Sanctuary for Families, a New York-based nonprofit aiding victims of domestic violence. While working, she launched the agency’s pilot Program Evaluation Initiative. She also co-founded the New York Statewide Coalition for Fair Access to Family Court, which, after twenty years of advocacy, successfully advocated for legislation granting access to civil orders of protection for unmarried victims of domestic violence, including LGBTQ victims and teens. Fluke was also a member of the Manhattan Borough President's Taskforce on Domestic Violence and numerous other New York City and New York State coalitions that successfully advocated for policy improvements impacting victims of domestic violence. Before enrolling at Georgetown, she researched their health care policy and decide to lobby the College for a change in policy on contraception while she attended. While at Georgetown, she also worked on issues that involved domestic violence and human trafficking.
Testimony
On February 16, 2012, Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, held a hearing on infringement of religious liberty and contraceptive mandates. Fluke was submitted as a witness by Democratic members, but Issa denied her testimony, stating her name was submitted too late. The hearing was widely criticized for having no women witnesses to speak on an issue of insurance coverage of contraception. invited to testify on February 23 for House Democratic members.
In her testimony, she argued in favor of requiring private insurance companies to cover contraception. She claimed that over the three years as a law student, birth control would cost an estimated $3,000. She continued that the lack of coverage would force many low income women to go without contraception and that women's free health clinics cannot meet the need. She then discussed the consequence of such policies, including a friend with polycystic ovary syndrome being forced to go without birth control pills, resulting in a cyst developing on her ovaries. According to Fluke, her friend was denied coverage, even with a verified condition from her doctor, and this is not a rare event for women with medical conditions. She then stated that she wanted equal treatment for women's health issues and did not see the issue as a being against the Catholic Church.
Rush Limbaugh controversy
On February 29, 2012, Rush Limbaugh caused an outcry by describing Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke as a "slut", "prostitute" and "round-heeled" while questioning whether her parents were proud of her on his radio show for supporting a federal contraception mandate for private insurance that included religiously-affiliated institutions.
What does it say about the college coed Susan Fluke , who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.
On March 1, 2012, Limbaugh said that Fluke is "having so much sex, it's amazing she can still walk". During the same show, he said:
So, Ms. Fluke and the rest of you feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it, and I'll tell you what it is. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch
The following day Limbaugh said that Fluke had boyfriends "lined up around the block." He went on to say that if his daughter had testified that "she's having so much sex she can't pay for it and wants a new welfare program to pay for it," he'd be "embarrassed" and "disconnect the phone," "go into hiding," and "hope the media didn't find me."
Limbaugh's remarks aroused a public reaction, leading to the creation of a campaign to encourage Limbaugh's radio sponsors to stop advertising for him. As a result, as of March 3, 2012, Sleep Train, Select Comfort, Quicken Loans, GoToMyPC, Citrix Systems, and LegalZoom have pulled their advertisements from Rush Limbaugh's radio show. Also, President Barack Obama called Fluke in support and the President of Georgetown University John J. DeGioia described Limbaugh and his supporters' comments "as misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of Sandra Fluke."
On March 3, Limbaugh repeated his previous attacks against Fluke and insurance coverage for contraception. Later that day he released an apology on his official website:

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke / My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.

On the same day the Feminist Majority Foundation started a pledge drive in support called "Stand with Sandra." Fluke has announced she's considering legal action against Limbaugh for slander. Even after the apology, another advertiser, Carbonite, dropped advertisements from his show. In a public statement, CEO David Friend stated:

No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.

Public pressure, organized by social media websites, continues to pressure other advertisers to drop Limbaugh's show.

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