Would you like to be called a “slut” or a ‘prostitute’ on national radio by a talk-show host simply for standing up for your beliefs?
Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh recently stirred up controversy when he called out Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke on-air for advocating for contraceptives to be covered by health insurance in front of a House committee.
Limbaugh attacked the 30-year-old law student on his radio show with comments such as, “She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.”
The next day on his show, Limbaugh went as far as to say, “If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, thus pay for you to have sex…we want you to post the videos online, so we can all watch.”
“He is always trying to push the envelope, but he went way too far this time,” said Haydn Nason, general manager for Linfield’s radio station, 90.3 KSLC. “I would never want anyone on my staff to say that.”
His comments outraged many people and even caused him to lose advertisers.
“He wasn’t thinking about externalities,” Nason said. “He’s lost more than 26 advertisements.”
As a result, Limbaugh issued an apology, but those angry at him weren’t buying it.
“I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices,” Limbaugh said.
However, Limbaugh couldn’t stick to a simple apology, defending himself by saying, “Rappers can say anything they want about women. It’s called art. And they win awards.”
Limbaugh’s comments can certainly be seen as demeaning to women. While some believe that people shouldn’t have sex before marriage, the fact of the matter is that many people do.
Don’t responsible women in relationships outside of wedlock deserve to be protected from pregnancy and STDs without being referred to as a “slut” or a “prostitute”?
By attacking Fluke, Limbaugh essentially attacked every college-age woman who wants to have safe sex.
These women are simply being realistic. They realize that if sex is a possibility, they want to be prepared.
If more women had access to birth control, abortion wouldn’t be as big of an issue, because unwanted pregnancy could be more easily prevented in the first place.
Birth control pills, for some women, aren’t just about preventing an unwanted pregnancy. Women with irregular menstrual cycles might go on a birth control pill in order to regulate it.
At the same time, Limbaugh may have a point under his poor choice of words. If contraceptives are covered in Obama’s health care plan, even Americans who don’t believe in the use of contraceptives will have to pay for them with their tax money.
While it would be beneficial for many women to have contraceptives covered by health insurance, it’s not fair to make the people who don’t believe in the use of contraceptives to pay for it.
This is simply another issue that Americans will have to take into consideration when voting in the presidential elections this year.
-The Review Editorial Board
