Obama Personally Calls Law Student at Center of Plea for Free Contraception: 'He Encouraged Me

We've been paying very close attention to Sandra Fluke -- the Georgetown law student that Nancy Pelosi paraded before a Congressional hearing to beg for employers to pay for contraception. Apparently Barack Obama has been too: he just called her to tell her how much he supports her.

Fluke has been the subject of much scrutiny since her testimony, which detailed how young girls are losing so much money because certain employers -- in this case universities that offer student health plans -- are not required to pay for their contraception. Both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh maligned the co-ed this week, saying that Fluke is in essence asking taxpayers to foot the bill for her wanting to have sex.

Because of that mounting criticism, the president thought he'd reach out to Fluke and offer her some encouragement.

“He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women,” Fluke told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, according to Politico. “And what was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud. And that meant a lot because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me. So I just appreciated that very much.”

“He did express his concern for me and wanted to make sure that I was okay, which, I am," she added. "I’m okay.”

Watch it below:

Fluke took the call while waiting to go on MSNBC. Moments later, Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed the call during his daily press briefing.

“He wanted to offer his support to her," he said. "He wanted to express his disappointment that she has been the subject of inappropriate personal attacks and thank her for exercising her rights as a citizen to speak out on an issue of public policy."

He later chastised those who have criticized her, saying such discourse shouldn't be directed at a "private citizen."