Before a Rush to judgment, consider these facts

Context: Days ago on his radio show that boasts 13-20 million listeners, Rush Limbaugh called a law student a slut and prostitute for wanting her insurance carrier to cover oral contraceptives.  So much already has been written.  It would be way too easy to go after Rush.  So instead, consider these facts:

Fact: June 23, 1960 is the date oral contraceptives were approved by the FDA.  My now 84-year-old mother was among that first group of women to first use oral contraceptive.  I know this because she once sent me to the store to get her medications and I brought back this odd circular contraption containing tiny pills.  What are these for, Mom?  She wouldn't tell me.  It took me years to figure out what they were.  My mom was on the Pill!!!!!

Fact: The number of women now using the pill is about the same as the number of Rush Limbaugh listeners: 16 million. 

Fact: It took at least a decade after the discovery of an oral contraceptive to get FDA approval.

Fact:  In 1957, the FDA approved a drug that treated menstrual problems.  Called Enovid, it was in fact the Pill, but not sold as a contraceptive.  Doctors were flooded with women seeking help for "menstrual problems."  By 1959, more than half a million American women were taking Enovid, most presumably for its contraceptive value.  

Fact: In 1959 President Dwight Eisenhower cleared the way for Enovid to be approved as birth control.  He says in a press conference that birth control "is not a proper political or government activity or function or responsibility."   Even more clearly, he adds, it is "not our business."

Fact: President Dwight Eisenhower was a Republican.