Will high school athletes have to disclose their menstrual history? Where it stands now

Disclosing the menstrual history of Florida high school students may be required soon. It is now optional.

Here’s where things stand right now:

A meeting on the issue

▪ The Florida High School Athletic Association will discuss its proposal to require the disclosure of athletes’ menstrual history. The 16 board members will meet Feb. 26-27 in Gainesville.

What is the status right now?

▪ The athletic association’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee met in January and adopted a new form that would make questions about menstruation mandatory rather than the way it is now: optional.

▪ The advisory board can change its recommendation.

▪ The athletic association board can accept or reject the advisory committee’s final positions.

What would the form say?

▪ If approved, a required form would ask students if they’ve had a menstrual cycle, and if so, at what age they had their first period, their most recent and “how many periods ... in the past 12 months.”

The pros?

▪ Dr. Thresia Gambon, president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, says menstrual history can help doctors evaluate a student-athlete’s health, but that information should be kept confidential between the student and the provider.

The cons?

▪ Maxx Fenning, president of PRISM, a South Florida nonprofit organization that provides sexual health information to LGBTQ+ youth, says the proposal is an effort to stigmatize and exclude transgender people in sports.