Free Republic

An in-depth look at Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law student who demands that health insurers pay for birth control, abortifacients, abortions, and sterilization procedures – even at religious institutions that object to such requirements on moral grounds. Born in 1981, Sandra Fluke graduated from Cornell University in 2003 with bachelor's degrees in (a) Policy Analysis & Management, and (b) Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. She subsequently worked with the New York City-based Sanctuary for Families, which provides services for victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking. Fluke also interned with the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and a number...

Time for a Rush Reboot? While the Fluke fallout may not be as bad as suspected, it's still bad. I cringed when El Rushbo, on Day 2 of the Fluke matter, doubled down on his remarks and reveled in the reaction he was getting - from members of Congress and the press. A complete miscalculation. But ultimately PR war was lost, simply because a gentleman can't call a woman a 'slut,' and if it takes a half-hour to explain what you really meant, you failed in making your point. The whole thing was like watching Lucy trick Charlie Brown into...

There seems to be wide agreement that the Sandra Fluke kerfuffle handed the left a major political victory. We respectfully dissent. "Conservatives and those who care about religious liberty should be dismayed by the way the left has been allowed to shield an ominous attempt to expand government power and subvert religious freedom behind a faux defense of women's rights," writes Commentary's Jonathan Tobin, reflecting the despair on the right. A Christian Science Monitor subheadline sums up the triumphalist mood on the left: "Before Rush Limbaugh spoke up, the Republicans thought they had a winning issue on contraception in health-care...

Thanks to Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, the sex life of students, and women, has become the new hot topic of conversation. Called upon to testify for the defense of Democratic leaders and their HHS contraception mandate, Fluke, in essence, argued the case that "the health" of women takes precedence over religious liberty. It seems like an odd pairing: a health mandate focusing on contraceptives for women versus the notions of religious freedom, but these are the two debates brought to the fore in this argument. To be fair, the bulk of Fluke's testimony made claims for the necessity of...