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Fluke’s testimony contradicted by Target’s $9 birth control for discount cardholders

Kalyn McMackin Contributor
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Georgetown Law School student Sandra Fluke famously testified on Feb. 23 that contraception can cost her fellow students $3,000 over three years. But less than three miles from campus is a Target retail store that sells monthly birth control pill packs to consumers whose insurance plans do not cover contraception. The cost? As little as $9.

At that rate, three years of birth control would run $324, CNS News reported. The dramatically lower cost provides evidence that much cheaper alternatives to Fluke’s claimed expenses do exist, but, The Daily Caller has learned, that particular rate wouldn’t be available to Georgetown Law students like Fluke. A spokesperson from Target told TheDC that the rate is exclusive to a program called ScriptSave, which provides discount prescription drug rates to the employees of participating area businesses.

The spokesperson told TheDC via email that in order to “better serve the community, Target Pharmacy has partnered with ScriptSave® to offer this pharmacy savings program to its neighboring businesses and their employees.”

A Target store on 14th Street in Washington offers uninsured ScriptSave cardholders $9 prescriptions for a month’s supply of Tri-Sprintec, the generic form of the birth control pill Ortho Tri-Cyclen.

According to the Physicians’ Desk Reference, Ortho Tri-Cyclen is used for the “prevention of pregnancy,” and to help decrease the risk of ovarian or endometrial cancer. For some women, it can also help reduce acne.

Fluke was the only witness who addressed the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee to plead her case in support of an Obama administration regulation requiring health insurance plans, including those offered by Catholic universities, to cover all FDA-approved contraceptives and sterilizations.

“Without insurance coverage, contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school,” Fluke testified. “For a lot of students who, like me, are on public interest scholarships, that’s practically an entire summer’s salary. Forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law report struggling financially as a result of this policy.”

The third-year Georgetown Law student, a past president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice, said she wanted to share the stories of female classmates who have been affected by the Catholic university’s failure to provide birth control coverage.

“One student told us of how embarrassed and powerless she felt when she was standing at the pharmacy counter, and learned for the first time that contraception was not covered on her insurance, and she had to turn and walk away because she couldn’t afford that prescription,” Fluke said.

“Women like her have no choice but to go without contraception.”

Law Students for Reproductive Justice is a national organization represented on 80 college campuses. Its central mission is to guarantee “access to the information, resources, and support [women] need to attain sexual and reproductive self-determination.”

This article was updated after publication.

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