Dems to Issa: Condemn ‘Slut’ Comment

The Senate may have thrown out an amendment countering President Obama's contraception mandate to give employers moral control over health-care coverage, but the battle over birth control is hardly over. Thursday, Democrats from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wrote a letter to chairman Darrell Issa, insisting that he condemn Rush Limbaugh's comments about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke on his show Wednesday. Limbaugh called Fluke, who was barred from speaking at last month's male-only House contraception hearing, a "slut." Following the initial meeting, Fluke was allowed to speak at a Democratic hearing about the importance of birth-control coverage. "Can you imagine if you're her parents how proud of Sandra Fluke you would be," said Limbaugh in response to Fluke's argument. "Your daughter ... testifies she's having so much sex she can't afford her own birth controls and she agrees that Obama should provide them, or the pope." He went on to insist that requesting that her birth control be paid for "makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex." The letter to Issa, signed by 14 Democrats and ranking member Elijah Cummings, argues that "yesterday's statements by Rush Limbaugh were a vicious assault, not only against Ms. Fluke but against women across the country who rely on birth control and want it covered by their health insurance policies."