President Obama Friday called the law student Rush Limbaugh labeled a "slut" for seeking birth-control coverage and thanked her for speaking out for U.S. women.
Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student Limbaugh called a "slut" and a "prostitute" for her birth-control testimony before Congress, deplored the radio host's remarks as "outside the bounds of civil discourse."
Fluke told MSNBC Friday Obama's call meant a lot to her.
"He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women. And what was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud. And that meant a lot because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me. So, I just appreciated that very much," Fluke said.
"The speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate," Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement Friday.
"I'm not the first woman to be treated this way by numerous conservative media outlets, and hopefully I'll be the last," Fluke said Thursday. "This is really inappropriate," she said. "This is outside the bounds of civil discourse."
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Fluke testified before Democrats after she was cut from the witness list at a committee hearing on the issue led by Republicans who said she was "not qualified" to discuss President Obama's contraception coverage mandate.
Fluke told the Democrats a year's worth of contraception costs as much as $3,000 and said many women use birth control to treat medical issues, including polycystic ovary syndrome, a common female endocrine disorder thought to be one of the leading causes of female sub-fertility.
"That's $1,000 a year of sex -- and, she wants us to pay for it," Limbaugh said on his radio show.
"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? What does that make her?
"It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute," Limbaugh told listeners. "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. ...
"So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. We want you post the videos online so we can all watch," Limbaugh said.
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Fluke told MSNBC she was first "stunned" by Limbaugh's comments but then became "outraged."
"Because this is historically the kind of language that is used to silence women especially when women stand up and say that these are their reproductive healthcare needs and this is what they need," she said.
Her comments came after 75 Democratic lawmakers urged Boehner to "repudiate" Limbaugh's remarks.
Using the airwaves to launch a "direct attack on a private citizen is unacceptable," Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said in a letter to Boehner.
"Mr. Limbaugh repeatedly used sexually charged, patently offensive and obscene language to malign the character of this courageous young woman who has chosen to be the voice for many of her peers," the letter said.
"As leaders of the House that initially denied Ms. Fluke the right to speak, the Republicans have a special obligation to condemn the atrocious and hurtful words spoken by Mr. Limbaugh," the letter said.
Sleep Train Mattress, one of the advertisers on Limbaugh's radio program, announced via Twitter it was pulling its ads from his show, saying, "We don't condone negative comments directed toward any group."
The National Organization for women issued a statement condemning Limbaugh's remarks, saying: "Bigoted bully Rush Limbaugh has been rewarded for his hostile, hate-filled speech for far too long. The National Organization for Women calls on Clear Channel Communications to pull the plug on Limbaugh's gilded microphone immediately."
