CLAREMONT, CA, February 22, 2013, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sandra Fluke has brought her unique insights to bear on U.S. military policy, while teaming up again with Planned Parenthood to support the HHS mandate.
Last week, Fluke told a California college that Barack Obama's repeal of the “Don't Ask, “Don't Tell” policy did not go far enough, because it did not include transgender soldiers.
“We still don’t let trans-folk join the military,” Fluke told a gathering at Claremont McKenna College on February 13. “That needs to change.”
Service in the military, she said, should be open to the entire “the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning” population, according to the Daily Caller.
“I think the steps that we have to focus on right now are some of the ones that will be the most impactful but also the ones that society is ready for,” she added.
The speech came just days before the Georgetown contraception activist sent out an e-mail under the auspices of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF) calling on its members to aggressively support the Obama administration's plan to force religious employers to fund contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs.
Fluke praises Obama's latest “accommodation,” which states that religious non-profit entities would not directly cover practices that violate their religion – but that their employers must offer such services “free of charge.”
“President Obama's plan strikes the right balance,” Fluke wrote. “It guarantees that women will be able to get birth control without a co-pay, while ensuring that the rights of religious organizations are respected.”
The policy's critics say it amounts to an accounting gimmick and still tramples on the religious liberties of religious employers in the private sector, such as Hobby Lobby. Fluke addressed them in her e-mail.
“Despite the president's accommodation of religious organizations, powerful voices are still fighting to take this basic health care away from women,” she wrote. “It comes down to this: nobody – politicians, bosses, or anyone else – should be able to block your access to essential health care. Nobody has the right to deny you power over your body and your future.”
The e-mail routes its readers to a form e-mail from PPAF that reads, “I strongly support President Obama's plan for accessible and affordable birth control.”
“Personalize your message,” PPAF instructs.
Fluke's e-mail has already drawn opposition within the pro-life movement. Sarah Crawford of Texas Right to Life said, “Pills that induce abortion are not health care and Americans who oppose the use of these drugs should not be forced to pay for them simply because the most pro-abortion president demands it.”
“Abortion and abortion-inducing drugs are not health care. They are not a necessity and they are certainly not essential to the well-being of American women,” she said.
The re-emergence of Sandra Fluke shows she intends to build her brand, fueling speculation that she intends to run for political office in the future.
Click “like” if you are PRO-LIFE!
Fluke became a heroine of the feminist Left after being excluded from a House Oversight Committee hearing on religious freedom, because she intended to address a different topic altogether. The Democrats’ other witness, Barry Lynn, was invited but refused to come, a turn of events that led Virginia Democrat Gerald Connolly to charge the clergy who attended with being “complicit in the trampling of freedom.”
In her e-mail, Fluke writes that in the ensuing weeks, she was “smeared” by Rush Limbaugh and “shameless political operatives…They deny us a hearing, they shout us down, they call us names.”
The notoriety fed her public rise.
She spoke during prime time at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. During a campaign that largely focused on an alleged “war on women,” she became a surrogate for President Obama's re-election. A campaign stop in Reno, Nevada, last October at the height of the campaign season drew 10 people.
The e-mail is an attempt to make herself relevant on the issue yet again.
The Department of Health and Human Services is taking comments on the proposed “accommodation” for the next month. Those on both sides of the controversy have promised to make their voices heard.
“Pro-Life women have a few words for you, Sandra,” Crawford said. “We have always been here and we will forever fight for the real rights of women and the unborn to be protected.”