Former Georgetown University law student and birth control activist Sandra Fluke is planning to run for retiring California Rep. Henry Waxman’s congressional seat,
The Washington Post reports.
Fluke has filed with the California state Democratic Party to seek its endorsement in the race. Waxman, a 74-year-old staunch liberal, has served in the House of Representatives for nearly four decades.
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Fluke, 32, made national headlines in 2012 when conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh referred to Fluke as a “slut” after she testified before Congress that health insurers should be mandated to pay for contraception as part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Limbaugh later apologized for his remark.
As result of Georgetown’s decision not to include birth control coverage in its student health plan – it’s a Catholic university -- Fluke told Congress that she and other women there had suffered “
financial, emotional and medical burdens," the New York Daily News reports.
The Limbaugh controversy catapulted Fluke into the national spotlight. President Obama personally called her to apologize and she later campaigned with and for him in 2012 and was a featured speaker at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly noted on his show in 2012 that Fluke’s then-boyfriend Adam Mutterperl —they are now engaged – is the son of “Democratic stalwart William Mutterperl.”
O’Reilly questioned whether Fluke’s advocacy came with a price tag, noting the timing of her rise coincided with criticism of the White House for Obamacare’s contraception requirement, even for religious groups opposed to it, The Daily Caller reported in March 2012.
“Of course, that’s when Sandra Fluke suddenly appeared — popping up at congressional hearings, showing up in the media,” O’Reilly said. “Polls show President Obama’s poll numbers among women now on the rise, and he has Ms. Fluke to thank [for] that. If you don’t pay close attention to this story, it looks like President Obama is simply helping out a young woman under siege, but again, that’s not what’s going on here.”
Fluke is licensed to practice law in California and also has an undergraduate degree from Cornell University in Policy Analysis and Management and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She will likely face a crowded field in the bid for Waxman’s seat, according to The New York Daily News.
Contenders so far include Wendy Greuel, who ran for Los Angeles mayor, State Sen. Ted Lieu, and spiritual teacher and author Marianne Williamson.
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