Patricia Heaton Apologizes for Attacking Sandra Fluke on Twitter

The Sandra Fluke–Rush Limbaugh controversy has inspired a wide range of reactions. President Obama telephoned Fluke with words of support and encouragement after the radio host called her a "slut." GOP hopeful Mitt Romney said he would have used different language to describe the Georgetown law student. Even Georgetown students are divided on the furor.

But one response set off an uproar almost as vehement as the rage at Limbaugh's original remarks. On Feb. 29, conservative actress Patricia Heaton, of Everyone Loves Raymond fame, took to her Twitter to chastise Fluke, whom she referred to as “Georgetown Gal” or “G-Town Gal.” Heaton offered money-saving tips to the law student, presumably with the assumption that Fluke and other women in college should be able to afford birth control without insurance. Her original tweets, as well as six retweets, are pictured below in a screen shot from Angry Black Lady Chronicles.

Heaton later deleted some of her own tweets and on Saturday, four days later, offered an apology by way of a series of tweets.

Still, Heaton left up the retweets, which also argued that birth control should not be covered by health plans. One retweet Heaton left up is from Alison Griswold (@alisongriz):

Another, from Alicia Bowman Sigmon:

While one might argue that retweets don’t necessarily imply support or endorsement, Heaton did leave up one of her tweets (not pictured) contining her argument that women should be able to afford medical care without relying on insurance-covered birth control.