Going Broke To Have Sex!

Well, I might as well come out and say it: it may have been a fluke on the part of Republicans not to have allowed Georgetown coed and “reproductive rights” activist Sandra Fluke to testify the other day on the panel convened to discuss religious freedom and the HHS contraception mandate.

Sure, from all I can tell, Ms. Fluke is not a theologian and possibly lacks expertise in church state relations. But does she ever make the contraception mandate look ridiculous!

Ms. Fluke says that her Georgetown law school friends are "going broke" paying for contraception. Ms Fluke did get to testify before a subsequent hearing held by Nancy Pelosi:

Apparently, four out of every ten co-eds are having so much sex that it's hard to make ends meet if they have to pay for their own contraception, Fluke's research shows.

"Forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggled financially as a result of this policy (Georgetown student insurance not covering contraception), Fluke reported. It costs a female student $3,000 to have protected sex over the course of her three-year stint in law school, according to her calculations.

"Without insurance coverage, contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school," Fluke told the hearing.

 First question: What kind of pills/condoms are these young women using? Fourteen-karat gold with embossed monograms? Gimme a break. Some reports have put the cost of contraception at around $9 a month from Target, though I realize the pharmacies around Georgetown may be considerably fancier. Still…

The point that Fluke makes so eloquently is just how silly this mandate would be if it weren’t for the very serious matter that it requires some religious people to violate their consciences. The mandate also says that the state can tell religious organizations what to do in ways that have never been legal before in the United States.

Do listen to Fluke’s testimony. You won’t know whether to laugh or cry. I confess I opted for laughter. I wonder if Ms. Pelosi realizes what a fluke Ms. Fluke was.