FRF asks FHSAA to stop collecting student athletes’ menstrual history
The Floridians for Reproductive Freedom coalition sent letters to all members of the Florida High School Athletics Association Board of Directors to stop requiring student athletes to provide menstrual history and other menstrual information on its required health physical forms.
Our letter read:
November 1, 2022
Dear Members of the Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors:
We, the Floridians for Reproductive Freedom coalition and undersigned organizations, strongly oppose the inclusion of any questions on student health forms, including for student athletes, about menstrual cycles or history or about genitalia.
During these post-Roe v. Wade times when breaches of personal medical records could carry grave consequences, our young people must be protected. Private information related to any individual student’s reproductive system must be kept completely private, confidential, and secure. Records should be kept with students’ own doctors, not within the school system. Students must be confident that their participation in school activities, including providing information requested by their school systems, will not subject them to potential harm and misuse of their information.
Medical privacy – particularly when it comes to reproductive health – is entering a new, frightening era since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. This has empowered anti-abortion politicians to criminalize pregnancy outcomes and prosecute patients, including those who are underage. School records could become easy prey for an aggressive local prosecutor collecting evidence to use against someone who has ended a pregnancy.
We urge the FHSAA to revise the entire health form and simply require a healthcare provider to confirm whether students are healthy enough to play.
Sincerely,
A Woman’s Choice of Jacksonville
ACLU of Florida
Allendale United Methodist Church
American Atheists
Bans Off Miami
Central Floridians For Social Equality
Coalition Against Period Poverty
Emergency Medical Assistance
Equality Florida
Equity Experience
Florida Access Network
Florida For All
Florida Interfaith Coalition for Reproductive Health and Justice
Florida Legal Services, Inc.
Florida Rising
Floridians for Reproductive Freedom
Folding Chair Consulting
Gainesville Woman Care/Bread and Roses
Indivisible FL13
Indivisible Miami
Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice Florida
League of Women Voters of Florida
League of Women Voters of Broward County
League of Women Voters of Polk County
League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area
Men4Choice Advocacy
Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity
National Abortion Federation
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum – Florida
National Council of Jewish Women, Greater Miami Section
National Council of Jewish Women, Sarasota Manatee Section
National Institute for Reproductive Health
National Organization for Women – Florida NOW
National Organization for Women – Florida NOW Education Fund
National Organization of Women, Greater Marion County NOW
National Organization of Women, Greater Orlando NOW
National Organization of Women, Jacksonville NOW
National Organization of Women, Lee County NOW
National Organization of Women, Miami NOW
National Organization of Women, Pinellas NOW
National Organization of Women, Tampa NOW
National Organization of Women, West Pinellas NOW
National Women’s Law Center
National Women’s Liberation
NEO Philanthropy
Not in Naples
Palm Beach County NOW
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Power U Center for Social Change
Presidential Women’s Center
Prochoice Advocacy League (PAL)
Pro-Choice Coalition of Broward County
Progress Florida
Progress Florida Education Institute
Reproductive Health Access Project
Reproductive Health Access Project – Florida Chapter
Ruth’s List Florida
Social Unity Network, Inc.
State Innovation Exchange
Tampa Bay Abortion Fund
The Umbrella Brigade
Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg
United Activision Media LLC
Women’s Advocacy Movement of Pinellas
Women’s Foundation of Florida
Zioness South Florida