Florida Women Ask Dentist For Gynecology Checkups, Say Legislators Sent Them

“I came to see the dentist. I have a bad yeast infection.”

In protest to a new law going into effect on July 1, 2016, about a dozen activists in Miami, Florida visited a dental clinic looking for pap smears and treatment for yeast infections.

You may remember that earlier this year, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a bill into law cutting funding to women’s health care clinics that offer privately funded abortions.

The new law targets Planned Parenthood facilities, and activists assert it will prevent low-income women and women at or below the poverty level from accessing basic healthcare. Funding for critical services such as preventive care and testing for STDs and HIV will be eliminated.

Legislators who crafted the bill say that women will have all sorts of options for reproductive health care and they even offered a list of Florida’s Federally Qualified Health Centers. The list included dental offices. Yes, dental offices.

“I came to see the dentist,” said Yolanda Davis. “I have a bad yeast infection.”

Another activist, Rosalie Whylie, asked the receptionist if she could make an appointment for a pap smear.

An anonymous representative from the dental clinic explained that dentists do not offer those types of services.

The women from social justice groups from across Miami-Dade like the Miami Workers Center, Power U Center For Social Change and The Women’s Fund, were not deterred. They insisted that Florida’s Republican legislature instructed them to visit a dental clinic for reproductive health care.

Not surprisingly to anyone but Republican lawmakers, the activists spotlighted THE OBVIOUS: Dentists don’t treat lady parts.

Turns out…dentists don't do vagina care. (6/6) pic.twitter.com/GvMNlmVJlC

— Nadege C. Green (@NadegeGreen) June 22, 2016

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