Friday, March 02, 2012

Rush Limbaugh is Total Slime

I should really apologize to the slime for saying that.

Sandra Fluke, a student at Georgetown University Law School, testified on the importance of contraception. Limbaugh’s initial reaction was to call her a slut and he followed that up with suggesting that she post sex videos.

Limbaugh also compared her to a prostitute because, as he puts it, she wants to be paid to have sex.

One observation I’d like to make is that Limbaugh is lucky that Fluke isn’t my daughter or he’d be setting up dental appointments for a new set of teeth.

However, let’s ignore for the moment Limbaugh’s boorish comments and focus on Ms. Fluke’s testimony.

She testified that contraception can cost a woman $3,000 during law school. One has to wonder what type of contraception Ms. Fluke and her fellow students are using?

Birth control pills are the most common form of birth control and cost anywhere from $20 to $40 per month. Using the highest rate, and throwing in two $100 doctors visits, yields $40x12+$200 = $680 per year times three years gives us $2,040.

Even if one assumes the use of female condoms, a relatively ineffective method, these run $2-$4 each. Again, using the highest cost of $4 and $1,000 per year, yields some 250 sexual encounters per year or five times a week. If you do the numbers with male condoms, which run about $1 each, we’re talking almost three sexual encounters per day.

Clearly something is wrong with the math here unless Sandra is doubling up for extra protection or law students are having a hell of a lot more sex than I ever imagined.

I also have to admit that in many ways I’m a bit naïve and old fashioned. When the topic of contraception came up, I was really thinking about married working women and not unmarried students.

Some 80% of health insurance policies cover contraception primarily in the form of birth control pills. Contraception is a fact of life and I still maintain that this is an employer-employee issue and not a religious freedom issue. So I’m still not convinced that the church, as an employer, should get an exemption from providing health care coverage that includes contraception.

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