Sandra Fluke

Sandra Kay Fluke (born April 17, 1981) is an American attorney and women's rights activist. She spoke before Democratic members of the House of Representatives on the importance of requiring insurance plans to cover birth control. Talk show host Rush Limbaugh made inflammatory comments about Fluke's testimony (see Rush Limbaugh–Sandra Fluke controversy), consisting of speculation and slurs regarding her sex life, resulting in public outcry and the loss of several advertising sponsors from his radio program.

Biography
Fluke graduated from Cornell University in 2003 and worked in New York City for Sanctuary for Families, aiding victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

"[S]he co-founded the New York Statewide Coalition for Fair Access to Family Court, which [. . .] successfully advocated for legislation granting access to civil orders of protection for unmarried victims of domestic violence, including LGBTQ victims and teens. [She] 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."

While still at law school, Fluke "represented numerous victims of domestic violence and human trafficking" and also worked to help "child victims of domestic human trafficking" in Kenya.

Sandra Fluke graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 2012 and served as president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice. While at Georgetown University Law Center, she worked on issues that involved domestic violence and human trafficking.

Congressional testimony on contraception mandates
Sandra Fluke was invited by Democrats to speak at a hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the new Administration rules on Conscience Clause exceptions in health care. The exception applies to church organizations themselves, but not to affiliated nonprofit corporations, like hospitals, that do not rely primarily on members of the faith as employees. Following complaints from Catholic bishops, who believe that Catholic nonprofits should also have an exception for their employees, another exception was created for religious institutions in which an employee can seek birth control directly from the insurance company instead of the religious based nonprofit. Democrats requested the committee add Sandra Fluke to the first panel, which was composed of clergy and theologians. Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-California) refused, stating that Fluke lacked expertise, was not member of the clergy, and her name was not submitted in time. Democratic members criticized the decision not to include Fluke since it left that panel with only male members, when the hearing covered contraception coverage.

The next week, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee convened a meeting to invite Fluke to speak. Fluke argued in favor of a private mandate for contraception coverage, to include institutions with moral objections to contraception. She said that during the time spent as a law student, birth control could cost $3,000 or more. She also stated that 40% of Georgetown Law School's female population suffered financial hardship as a result of birth control not being covered by the student health insurance plan, and that the lack of free contraception coverage in the university insurance plans would induce many low income students to go without contraceptives. She then shared the stories of friends affected by such policies, citing a friend with polycystic ovary syndrome. Fluke said this friend needed contraceptive hormones costing over $100 per month to treat this disease, and that while PcOS was "covered by Georgetown insurance", the insurance company repeatedly denied contraceptives, because they suspected the purpose of the medication was contraception.

Invective from Limbaugh
On February 29, 2012, Rush Limbaugh labeled Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute", based on her testimony before House Democrats. Fluke was appearing in support of mandating health insurers to cover contraceptive costs. Limbaugh said: "[Fluke] 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. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex." During and following his continued branding of Fluke as a slut for the next two days, Limbaugh lost several national advertisers. Political figures, including President Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner, voiced disapproval. On March 3 Limbaugh apologized to Fluke for his comments saying his "insulting word choices" were meant to be "humorous", and that he never thought she was a slut or a prostitute. Fluke rejected the apology as dubious and inadequate.

Support for Obama
On June 14, 2012, CNN published an op-ed piece by Fluke titled "Why this election is so personal" in which she gave several reasons why she believed Barack Obama was more likely than Mitt Romney to improve the lot of the American people. This endorsement of Obama was noted by a variety of US media. She has also supported the expansion of Medicaid by individual states under the Affordable Care Act.