All,
For over two decades, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) has required an annual medical clearance from a qualified medical practitioner be completed before a student athlete can participate in school sports programs. The medical history and physical examination findings are documented on "Form EL-2 -- The Pre-participation Physical Examination" found here: Florida High School Athletic Association (fhsaa.com) . The signed form (with sensitive medical history and physical exam findings) is then turned into the student athlete's school principal's office for filing. The form has always included five menstrual history questions, including date of an athlete's last period, that have been OPTIONAL to complete and could be left blank.
Let's face it. A school administrator does not need sensitive medical information on file about its student athletes. All that should be required to play sports is the signed clearance from a qualified medical professional. This is what is done in at least 10 other states. But here comes the bigger problem -- In October, the FHSAA recommended that Florida start using a digital national sports-registration form and make it mandatory for students to complete the menstrual history portion! And not only will the student athlete still be required to turn in the complete medical history form to school administrators, the digital form will also be kept by a third-party software company that is not bound to HIPAA laws. This student invasion of privacy in Florida should have "parental rights" advocates screaming bloody murder, and rightly so.
But the danger extends beyond invasion of medical privacy. If we see expansion of Florida's abortion laws, and women (including female students), are criminalized for abortions, menstrual histories will be subpoenaed to build legal cases against them if they are even suspected of having abortions. Or this information could build legal cases against abortion providers or anyone else suspected of helping a woman get an abortion if Florida passes a more restrictive abortion law with "bounty hunter" enforcements as in Texas.
That is why we need you to take action today! The FHSAA Board of Directors will meet in Gainesville on Feb. 26-27 to vote on this recommendation for mandatory disclosure of menstrual history. Our friends at Progress Florida have an ongoing email public pressure campaign that is easy to join at Tell FL High School Athletic Association: "Protect our Florida daughters; their health info is private!" - Floridians For Reproductive Freedom (floridareprofreedom.org). The more people that sign up the better.
Please share this information widely.
Thank you for all that you do,
Jean Siebenaler
LEGISLATIVE CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC WOMEN'S CLUB OF FLORIDA