Rush Limbaugh's apology to Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law School student who Limbaugh called a "slut" and a "prostitute" after she testified before Congress that contraception should be covered by private health insurance, "didn't change anything," Fluke told ABC's The View Monday.
After Fluke, 30, told Congress on Feb. 23 that private health care concerns should cover women's contraception because it is otherwise unaffordable to students like her, Limbaugh went on the air Wednesday, Feb. 29, and said, "what does it say about the college co-ed Susan [sic] Fluke who goes before a Congressional committee and says that she must be paid to have sex? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception that she wants you and me, the taxpayers, to pay for."
In the week that followed, several of Limbaugh's advertisers have dropped out of the show, including Sleep Train, Sleep Number, Quicken Loans, and most recently, AOL.
On Saturday, March 3, Limbaugh issued an apology to Fluke that read, in part: "For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke."
Limbaugh's full apology is available here.
On The View on Monday, Fluke dismissed the apology saying "I don't think that a statement like the one he issued saying his choice of words was not the best changes anything, especially when he's under significant pressure from his sponsors who have begun to pull their support from him.
"I have tried to see this for what it is: an attempt to silence me and millions of women and the men who support them, who have been speaking out about this issue, and their view that contraception is an important health care need that needs to be made accessible in an affordable way."
Fluke also told The View panelists that Limbaugh's assertions were incorrect, because what she was advocating for in front of Congress would require private health care companies -- not the government or taxpayers -- to cover contraception.
"The idea that this is about taxpayers or the government covering health care is incorrect," Fluke said. "This is about private insurance treating this type of medical drug in the same way that other medical drugs are treated."
Fluke pointed to the self-described "progressive media watch dog" site Media Matters, which has a list of commentators who routinely "engage in this sort of commentary."
"It's not just one person who went crazy and made outrageous statements," Fluke said. "This is a segment of commentators who think it's okay to say these sorts of things about women. I think it's unacceptable no matter who is saying it, no matter what side they are on."
As for Limbaugh, "this is not someone who made an accidental statement. This was three days of shows. He insulted [women] more than 53 times," she said.
Walters asked Fluke whether Limbaugh had called her personally, as President Obama did.
"Let me be clear," Fluke responded, "I think the statements he's made on the air have been personal enough that I'd rather not have a personal phone call from him."
