Obama thanks college student for backing his birth control policy

Washington, Mar 3(ANI): U.S. President Barack Obama has thanked a Georgetown University law student for publicly backing his regulations on mandating contraception coverage in an election year fight over the administration's birth control policy.

The call by Obama to Sandra Fluke provided new fuel to a dispute that has already spilled over into Congress and onto the campaign trail and was becoming a major source of contention between Republicans and Democrats.

"He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women. And what was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud. And that meant a lot, because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me," Fluke said.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Obama told Fluke that he stood by her in the face of personal attacks on right-wing radio.

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia, who had earlier differed with Fluke in the past over the university's refusal to provide insurance coverage for contraception, also backed her.

"One need not agree with her substantive position to support her right to respectful free expression. And yet, some of those who disagreed with her position - including Rush Limbaugh and commentators throughout the blogosphere and in various other media channels - responded with behavior that can only be described as misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student," the New York Times quoted DeGioia, as saying.

His statement came after Fluke went public with her campaign for contraceptive coverage at Georgetown in the wake of Republicans and Catholic Church leaders denouncing the Obama administration's contraception mandate.

Fluke has earlier served as president and secretary of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice, as vice president of the Women's Legal Alliance, and as an editor on The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. (ANI)