Sandra Fluke

Students aren't employees, and student health plans are generally individual policies that the students buy on their own, even if they're offered through the college. So mandatory coverage of birth control for students shouldn't be delayed past August, but it could take longer for the faculty, advocates say.

Rush Limbaugh said a number of things about Sandra Fluke that created such a stir that he ultimately had to apologize. But most of the reactions focused on that one word: slut. Linguist Geoff Nunberg observes that our reaction to the word says quite a lot about the society we live in.

The radio show host also says two sponsors who canceled because of his comments about a Georgetown University law student now want to return to his show. He declined to name those companies.

By far the biggest return on investment would come from expanding access to family planning through Medicaid, a Brookings Institution analysis finds.

Advertisers and conservative commentators have denounced the undisputed king of political radio talk in the wake of sexually charged comments he made about a Georgetown law student. It is far from Limbaugh's first such episode, but two things make this incident stand out: the nature of the target and the timing of his comments.

AOL today joined other advertisers to pull adds from the radio host's nationally syndicated program in the wake of his words about a young woman who has spoken out in favor of insurers paying the cost of women's contraception services.

The conservative radio host had called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" after she testified on Capitol Hill that insurers should provide no-cost contraception.

With it being a general election year and the president counting on getting enough of the women's vote to win re-election, the phone call takes on a bigger meaning. Comforting someone like Fluke who was targeted by Limbaugh for siding with Obama's contraception policy was the kind of symbolic act that could pay dividends for the president come November.

The conservative radio broadcaster went after Sandra Fluke for her testimony about the Obama administration's policy on contraceptives. He's lost at least one advertiser because of his comments.

A Georgetown law student made her case for mandatory insurance coverage for birth control in front of a panel of House Democrats. A week ago she was prevented from testifying before a Republican-controlled committee.