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Utah’s unusual ‘premarital exams’ for women are being rebranded as sexual health visits for everyone

Physician Jennifer Gunter was startled by a post she read on Reddit “from a woman whose fiancé insisted she have some kind of premarital exam.”

“So, I Googled ‘premarital exam,’ wondering what a woman might find,” Gunter said in a Sept. 9 blog post. The first result was University of Utah Health. “I just about fell off my chair."

Gunter was troubled by some of what she read. One section was about keeping antibiotics on hand in case a bride gets a urinary tract infection from having sex during her honeymoon. Another talked about having an exam to “confirm that her body is ready for sex and take steps to reduce discomfort and frustration associated with the first few times,” such as by using sterile dilators.