Sandra Fluke

Sandra Kay Fluke ( , born April 17, 1981) is an American lawyer, and representative to the Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley.

She first came to public attention when, in February 2012, Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee refused to allow her to testify to that committee on the importance of requiring insurance plans to cover birth control during a discussion on whether medical insurance should have a contraception mandate. She later spoke to Democratic representatives.

Fluke supported Barack Obama's presidential re-election campaign in 2012 and was a featured speaker at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. She ran for the California State Senate seat of Ted Lieu, who vacated the seat to run for the congressional seat being vacated by Henry Waxman. Fluke lost to fellow Democrat Ben Allen.

Early life Sandra Fluke is a native of Saxton, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Richard B. Fluke II, a licensed pastor at a Methodist church, and Betty Kay (née Donaldson). She graduated from Pennsylvania's Tussey Mountain Junior/Senior High School in 1999.

Education In 2003, Fluke graduated from Cornell University's New York State College of Human Ecology with double major in Policy Analysis and Management and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies.

Career Fluke co-founded the New York Statewide Coalition for Fair Access to Family Court, whose advocacy led to legislation granting access to civil orders of protection for victims of intimate partner violence, including teenage and LGBTQ victims. According to the website of Georgetown University, Fluke also participated in the Manhattan Borough President's Taskforce on Domestic Violence and "many other New York City and New York State coalitions that successfully fought for policy improvements affecting victims of domestic violence".

According to The Washington Post, Fluke was interested in contraceptive coverage when starting out at Georgetown University Law Center, researching the college's student health plans before enrolling to find that birth control was not included. "I decided I was absolutely not willing to compromise the quality of my education in exchange for my health care," she said. Fluke spent the following three years trying to persuade the administration of the Jesuit college to change its policy regarding student contraceptive coverage. She said she had intended to use her testimony before Congress to talk about the effects of the lack of birth control coverage on students at Georgetown. She also "represented numerous victims of domestic violence and human trafficking," according to Georgetown University. Marianne Schnall writes in What Will It Take to Make A Woman President? that Fluke "has been recognised for her extensive pro bono representation of victims of domestic violence and human trafficking and for her human-rights advocacy efforts in Kenya."

Fluke received her Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Georgetown Law in 2012. She passed the California bar exam in July 2012 and was admitted to practice in the state on December 11, 2012.

2012 Congressional testimony Sandra Fluke reading a prepared statement for U.S. Congressional testimony, February 16, 2012

While a law student at Georgetown, Fluke was invited by Democrats to speak at a February 2012 hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on new Administration rules concerning the Conscience Clause exceptions in healthcare associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Democrats requested that the committee add Sandra Fluke to the first panel, which was otherwise an all-male panel of clergy and theologians. Committee chairman Darrell Issa, a Republican congressman from California, refused to allow Fluke to testify at the hearing, stating that Fluke lacked expertise, was not a member of the clergy, and her name was not submitted in time for the hearing. Democratic members criticized the decision not to include Fluke because of the lack of female witnesses at the hearing, which was to examine contraception coverage.

A week later, on February 23, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee convened a meeting to invite Fluke to speak.

Rush Limbaugh controversy

alt=Cover of Ms. Magazine: Sandra Fluke stands with arms folded; the caption reads, "You called me what?"

Fluke's testimony on February 23 did not refer to her own sex life or use of contraceptives. She spoke instead about the experiences of fellow law students; according to The Washington Post, these included "Students who pay as much as $1,000 a year out-of-pocket for a birth-control prescription, a married woman who stopped taking the pill because she couldn't afford it, and a friend who needed the prescription for a medical condition unrelated to pregnancy but gave up battling to get it".

Fluke responded by saying that she was "stunned" and "outraged" by Limbaugh's remarks, calling them "an attempt to silence me, to silence all of us from speaking about the healthcare we need". Limbaugh's comments were also criticized by prominent Democrats and Republicans, and several companies suspended their advertising on The Rush Limbaugh Show in protest.

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia defended Fluke as "a model of civil discourse" in a statement, calling Limbaugh's remarks "misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student". White House spokesman Jay Carney told the press that "The president called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke because he wanted to offer his support, express his disappointment that she was the subject of an inappropriate personal attack and thank her for exercising her rights as a citizen to speak out on public policy." Fluke described Limbaugh's public apology as insufficient, saying, "I don't think that a statement like this [...] changes anything, and especially when that statement is issued when he's under significant pressure from his sponsors who have begun to pull their support".

In 2013, Californian Susan MacMillan Emry co-organized a public relations campaign called Rock the Slut Vote in response to Limbaugh's remarks. The stated mission of the campaign "is to fight the GOP effort to bully, subjugate and silence women. We will wrest the power from the word slut and help women get informed, get involved, get registered and vote.”

Support of Barack Obama's re-election campaign In a June 2012 op-ed for CNN, Fluke described what she called "President Barack Obama and former [Governor] Mitt Romney's vastly different values and visions", specifically mentioning Obama's support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, increasing the government's investment of Pell Grant scholarships, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Fluke described Obama as "a president who has consistently shown he will defend [women's] rights while working to ensure that all women and men have all the protections and opportunities they need to pursue economic success". Fluke later introduced President Obama at an August 2012 campaign rally in Denver and spoke in support of the president at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, describing the Republican Party's platform as "an offensive, obsolete relic of our past". The Los Angeles Times described Fluke as "a symbolic presence in a convention that has been dominated by Democrats reaching out for the votes of women". Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois responded to the speech by saying that Fluke was acting "entitled" and told her to "get a job"; Fluke wrote in response that Walsh "disparage my generation", and questioned why many elected officials' answer to struggling Americans was "cutting their safety net".

2014 election Two years after moving to West Hollywood, Fluke announced she was running for California State Senate in the new 26th district created by the 2011 redistricting. In the June 3 primary, she came in second with 19.5% of the vote. In the November 4th elections she faced Democrat Ben Allen, who had won the primary with 22% of the vote, and she was defeated 61% to 39%.

Personal life In April 2012, Fluke became engaged to television producer and writer Adam Mutterperl. By the time of her failed 2014 bid for the California Legislature, they were married. They live in the Los Angeles area with their pet dog, Mr. President.