Following offensive remarks, groups denounce Limbaugh

Last Thursday during his regular radio show Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a "prostitute" for testifying in front of House of Representative Democrats in support of health insurance providers covering the cost of birth control.

“What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex,” Limbaugh said on his show March 1. “What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? 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. What does that make us? We’re the pimps.”

Since then two radio stations have dropped Limbaugh’s show and 19 advertisers have pulled their ads, according to a Paste BN article, despite an apology from Limbaugh on Monday.

Some college students, Planned Parenthood, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and many others have come out to denounce Limbaugh and his actions.

Jennifer Kaltveit, a senior at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., said she was “unsurprised and also appalled” at Limbaugh’s comments towards Fluke.

“I personally believe his opinion to be invalid and an insult to all women and men who use contraception,” she said. “Not only does his opinion frame contraception as frivolous, but it is a prime example of patriarchal attitudes.”

Leah DiLaura, a student at Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, Iowa, said that while she doesn’t listen to Limbaugh’s show, she found his remarks highly offensive as she takes birth control for a medical condition.

“I have taken birth control before to prevent pregnancy,” she said. “Then I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome while in college and used birth control with estrogen in it to help with symptoms.”

DiLaura said she thought Limbaugh’s comments were not only out of line, but an attack against women.

Paula Gianino, president and CEO of the St. Louis Region Planned Parenthood, agreed with DiLaura’s opinion that Limbaugh was attacking women with his comments about Fluke.

“They were an affront to Ms. Fluke, but they were an affront to all women in this country,” Gianino said.

After Limbaugh’s show, Planned Parenthood issued a statement denouncing Limbaugh:

“Sandra Fluke stood up for millions of women when she testified before Congress in support of birth control access, but she has since been the target of sexist attacks and outrageous slander by vocal opponents like Rush Limbaugh,” said the statement on Planned Parenthood’s Facebook page. “This language is an attack on ALL women, and Limbaugh and anyone who sits back and allows these kind of sexist slurs to go unnoticed should be ashamed.”

Planned Parenthood commented on the incident because of the work the organization has done to make contraception affordable to all women and its belief that access to contraception is critical for all women, Gianino said.

“Planned Parenthood commented on Rush Limbaugh’s disgusting and mean spirited comments about Sandra Fluke because Planned Parenthood is working hard on this issue to try to ensure that every woman in this country gets access to affordable birth control and family planning preventative services through their insurance,” she said.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has also weighed in on the perceived war on women by creating the “One Million Strong Against the Republican War on Women” petition on their website.

Jesse Ferguson, press secretary for the DCCC, said the petition was created on Feb. 17 after Republicans held a hearing on women’s health care where no women were present to testify.

“People deserve the opportunity to express their outrage and frustration with the Republican majority’s all-out war on women and this gives people an opportunity to join nearly a million people around the country who are speaking out and saying how outrageous the Republicans have been,” he said.

The petition is also an opportunity for those offended by Limbaugh’s comments to make their voices heard, Ferguson said.

Andrea Bozek, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson, said the DCCC was being hypocritical in its response to Limbaugh’s insults.

“Where is the outrage from Leader (Nancy) Pelosi and Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Alan Grayson’s candidacy?” she said. “The...former congressman who called a noted economist a ‘K Street Whore’ has been recently recruited to raise money for the national Democrats. Truly the height of hypocrisy.”

Rev. Thomas McGann, director of Catholic Campus Ministry at Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo., said that while he and the Catholic Church don’t support the use of contraception he found Limbaugh’s comments offensive.

“Limbaugh’s comments were absolutely inappropriate and demonstrated a lack of any respect for women in general,” McGann said. “I know men and women who struggle with the Church’s teaching and Limbaugh’s remarks smeared both them and all people who responsibly strive to listen to and act according to their conscience.”

McGann said he hoped Limbaugh's comments would not distract from the dialogue Congress and the Catholic Church will have in the next year about the issue of employers being required to provide insurance coverage for contraception.

Neither Limbaugh or Fluke returned messages by deadline.

Megan Gates is a Spring 2012 Paste BN Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.

This story originally appeared on the Paste BN College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.