Given so much media attention this last week on Rush Limbaugh and his savage attack against Sandra Fluke, we thought it might be helpful to take a look at who and what Rush was attacking. Ms. Fluke is a student at Georgetown University, a private Jesuit-run institution. She was denied the opportunity to testify before a Republican congressional panel on the subject of women’s contraception and health — a panel consisting solely of men.
She instead was brought back to testify on Feb. 23 at a hearing on women’s reproductive health and contraception before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, thus drawing Limbaugh’s fire. The transcript of her testimony follows. — Fe
“My name is Sandra Fluke, and I’m a third-year student at Georgetown Law School. I’m also a past-president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice or LSRJ. And I’d like to acknowledge my fellow LSRJ members and allies and all of the student activists with us and thank them so much for being here today. We, as Georgetown LSRJ, are here today because we’re so grateful that this regulation implements the non-partisan medical advice of the Institute of Medicine.
I attend a Jesuit law school that does not provide contraceptive coverage in its student health plan. And just as we students have faced financial, emotional, and medical burdens as a result, employees at religiously-affiliated hospitals and institutions and universities across the country have suffered similar burdens. We are all grateful for the new regulation that will meet the critical health care needs of so many women.