The Georgetown Law School student derided as a "slut" and a "prostitute" by conservative talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh told ABC News Friday that the talk show host's comments were "hurtful" and an attempt to silence women who speak out, especially on issues relating to women's health care.

"I just thought it was really inappropriate," Sandra Fluke told ABC News. "It was certainly outside the bounds of civil discourse, and it was hurtful to me and to my family. But ultimately, as I said, it's been used against women before and I hope it won't be used against women again."

Limbaugh has publicly assailed Fluke on his radio show for testifying before Congress that insurance companies should fully cover birth control for all women, even if the institution or employer has religious objections.

"What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute," Limbaugh said Wednesday. "She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We're the pimps."

"It was hurtful, but I understood that this is how people try to silence women when they speak out, especially when they speak out about their reproductive health," said Fluke, the former head of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice.

President Obama today telephoned Fluke to offer his personal support and convey his "disappointment that she has been the subject of inappropriate personal attacks and to thank her for exercising her rights as a citizen to speak out on an issue of public policy," according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

"He expressed support for me," Fluke said, "and concern for me personally and how I was handling the things that had been said about me, and [President Obama] thanked me for speaking out and for expressing the concerns of so many women.

"He said he hoped my parents … were proud of me," Fluke said, getting a touch emotional, "and that really meant something. And he said that, as a father, he understood how they would feel.

"That was very touching because Rush Limbaugh had actually questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me, so it was - and they are, they're proud of me. So it was nice."

-Jake Tapper and Mary Bruce