The morning of noted contraception activist Sandra Fluke’s campaign appearance with President Barack Obama in Denver, the newly minted lawyer explained she is “standing with Obama” in an effort to protect women’s health care.
“This choice is personal for all of us because it will impact each of our lives. But for me, it’s intensely personal,” Fluke wrote in a Wednesday Huffington Post blog post, circulated by Obama for America. “Earlier this year, I was publicly attacked by Rush Limbaugh and others for testifying before members of Congress. I had shared stories of my friends and other young women, stories no different from those I’ve heard from women who also worry about having the health care they need.”
According to Fluke, Obama’s health care law will provide women with the same health insurance protections as men.
“When Obamacare takes full effect, we’ll never again be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition like being a survivor of domestic violence or breast cancer, or having had a Caesarean section,” she wrote. “Nor will we ever again be charged more than men for the same insurance just because we’re women.”
Fluke attacked Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his opposition to Obama’s health care law and Planned Parenthood, and for his failure to offer a strong condemnation of Limbaugh.
“When Rush Limbaugh called me a ‘slut’ and a ‘prostitute’ for speaking about medical needs for contraception, Mr. Romney could only say that it ‘wasn’t the language [he] would have used,’” she added. “If Mr. Romney can’t stand up to the extreme voices in his own party, we know he’ll never stand up for women and protect the rights that generations of women fought so hard to ensure.”
On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus dismissed Fluke’s appearance, saying the election will be about the economy.
“If that is what [Obama] wants to do that’s fine, but at the end of the day, this is going to come down to the economy and women are worse off under this president after four years than when President Obama took office,” Priebus said.
Advocating that politicians stay out of health care, Krista Kafer, executive director of Colorado’s Future Project, a research organization supported by the conservative Independent Women’s Forum, described Fluke’s appearance as a distraction from the economy.
“Bringing Sandra Fluke to Colorado is a sideshow,” she said in a statement. “Ultimately it’s a distraction to the real issues our country faces: a national debt nearing $16 trillion, an unemployment rate that remains above 8% and a stagnant economy,” Kafer said in a statement. “The trillion dollar deficits, bail-outs and failed stimulus plans have failed to improve the economy, home values and job prospects for women.”