Sandra Fluke facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sandra Fluke
Sandra Fluke on May 4, 2013
Born	Sandra Kay Fluke (1981-04-17) April 17, 1981 (age 43) Saxton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	Cornell University (BA) Georgetown University (JD)
Occupation	Attorney, activist
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Adam Mutterperl

Sandra Kay Fluke (/flʊk/, born April 17, 1981) is an American lawyer, women's rights activist, and representative to the Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley.

..... She later spoke to Democratic representatives.

Fluke supported President Barack Obama's re-election campaign in 2012 and was a featured speaker at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. She ran for the California State Senate seat of Ted Lieu, who vacated the seat to run for the congressional seat being vacated by Henry Waxman. Fluke lost to fellow Democrat Ben Allen.

Early life

Sandra Fluke is a native of Saxton, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Richard B. Fluke II, a licensed pastor at a Methodist church, and Betty Kay (née Donaldson). She graduated from Pennsylvania's Tussey Mountain Junior/Senior High School in 1999.

Career

Fluke co-founded the New York Statewide Coalition for Fair Access to Family Court, whose advocacy led to legislation granting access to civil orders of protection for victims of intimate partner violence, including teenage and LGBTQ victims. According to the website of Georgetown University, Fluke also participated in the Manhattan Borough President's Taskforce on Domestic Violence and "many other New York City and New York State coalitions that successfully fought for policy improvements effecting victims of domestic violence".

..... "I decided I was absolutely not willing to compromise the quality of my education in exchange for my health care," she said. .....

In 2011, Fluke was a recipient of the Women Lawyers of Los Angeles' Fran Kandel Public Interest Grant from Georgetown University Law Center, which supported her production of a video on how to take out a restraining order. ..... She also served as president of the Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice student organization. Marianne Schnall writes in What Will It Take to Make A Woman President? .....

Fluke received her Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Georgetown Law in 2012. She passed the California bar exam in July 2012 and was admitted to practice in the state on December 11, 2012.

2012 Congressional testimony

..... Democrats requested that the committee add Sandra Fluke to the first panel, which was otherwise an all-male panel of clergy and theologians. Committee chairman Darrell Issa, a Republican congressman from California, refused to allow Fluke to testify at the hearing, stating that Fluke lacked expertise, was not a member of the clergy, and her name was not submitted in time for the hearing. .....

A week later, on February 23, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee convened a meeting to invite Fluke to speak. ..... "We refuse to pick between a quality education and our health," she said. ..... She mentioned friends affected by such policies, citing a friend with polycystic ovary syndrome. .....

Support of Barack Obama's re-election campaign

In a June 2012 op-ed for CNN, Fluke described what she called "President Barack Obama and former [Governor] Mitt Romney's vastly different values and visions", specifically mentioning Obama's support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, increasing the government's investment of Pell Grant scholarships, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Fluke described Obama as "a president who has consistently shown he will defend [women's] rights while working to ensure that all women and men have all the protections and opportunities they need to pursue economic success". Fluke later introduced President Obama at an August 2012 campaign rally in Denver and spoke in support of the president at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, describing the Republican Party's platform as "an offensive, obsolete relic of our past". The Los Angeles Times described Fluke as "a symbolic presence in a convention that has been dominated by Democrats reaching out for the votes of women". Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois responded to the speech by saying that Fluke was acting "entitled" and told her to "get a job"; Fluke wrote in response that Walsh "disparage[d] my generation", and questioned why many elected officials' answer to struggling Americans was "cutting their safety net".

2014 Election

Two years after moving to West Hollywood, Fluke announced she was running for California State Senate in the new 26th district created by the 2011 redistricting. The new district is roughly equivalent to the pre-redistricting 28th district represented by Ted Lieu. In the June 3 primary, she came in second with 19.5% of the vote. In the November 4th elections she faced Democrat Ben Allen, who had won the primary with 22% of the vote, and she was defeated 61% to 39%.

Personal life

In April 2012, Fluke became engaged to television producer and writer Adam Mutterperl. By the time of her failed 2014 bid for the California Legislature, they were married. They live in the Los Angeles area with their dog, Mr. President.

See also

• Reproductive justice
• Reproductive rights