Georgetown Law Center student Sandra Fluke testified before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on women's health and contraception. She was the only witness scheduled.
She was blocked from testifying at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee the previous week on the 2010 health care law regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage to their employees. The first panel of the hearing only had men as witnesses.
When requests to televise today's hearing were turned down by the House recording studio, aides to Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) claimed that Republicans on the Committee on House Administration wanted to "silence" the issue of women's health. A spokeswoman for the committee denied the charge, pointing out that the committee was not involved in the studio decision.
Democrats complain that changes to the House broadcast rules should have permitted the broadcast. Republicans, on the other hand, say that the recording studio is only following established procedures.