Dear Rush Limbaugh: Birth Control Doesn't Work Like Viagra

From Mother Jones: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/rush-limbaugh-does-not-understand-how-birth-control-works

By Adam Serwer|

Fri Mar. 2, 2012

Does Rush Limbaugh think birth control works like Viagra?

His misogynistic assault on Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke indicates that he does.

Fluke, who was prevented from testifying at Rep. Darrell Issa's nearly all-male hearing on contraception, has been the target of barrage of sexist invective from Limbaugh over her view that Georgetown's health plan should include birth control. Wednesday Limbaugh called Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute", declared that "she's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception," and asserted that covering contraception was tantamount to paying her for sex. On Thursday he blurted out: "If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it, and I'll tell you what it is. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch."

Once you wade through the bile and the realization that the country's most popular conservative radio host has devoted hours on his show to attempting to bully a woman into silence for her views on birth control, it becomes clear that Limbaugh, a man over sixty who is now on his fourth marriage, does not seem to understand how birth control works. On Wednesday and Thursday, Limbaugh repeatedly suggested that the amount of sex a woman has is related to the amount of birth control she needs to take, as though women take birth control pills every day they have sex. This is how say, Viagra, the erectile dysfunction medication works. Aside from the morning after pill (which someone on regular birth control shouldn't use), when and how much sex you have is unrelated to the amount of birth control you need.

Limbaugh is a figure of almost religious stature among conservatives—for Republican elected officials, criticizing him is particularly dangerous—so Republican lawmakers have largey remained mum on the Limbaugh's despicable tirades. Some conservatives have tried to defend Limbaugh, however, arguing that his analogy, while crude, gets to a legitimate concern over whether religious organizations and insurance companies should have to "finance" someone else's "sex life."

Continue reading at: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/rush-limbaugh-does-not-understand-how-birth-control-works