Plan to collect menstrual data on high school athletes in Florida is voted down

The Florida High School Athletic Association's board of directors has voted 14-2 to remove questions about high school athletes' menstrual history from a required health form for participation in high school athletics.

Thursday's emergency meeting focused on the debate around menstrual cycle information. But in a less-discussed change to the requirements for Florida athletes, the newly adopted form asks students to list their "sex assigned at birth." The previous version asked only for "sex."

Updated February 9, 2023 at 1:25 PM ET

The vote comes after weeks of controversy surrounding questions on the medical form, which is typically filled out by a physician and submitted to schools. The board approved a recommendation by the association's director to remove the questions, which asked for details including the onset of an athlete's period and the date of that person's last menstrual cycle.

During an emergency meeting, the association's attorney read public comments into the record for about an hour. The comments overwhelmingly opposed requiring athletes to report those details to school athletic officials, citing privacy concerns.

The debate comes at a time of heightened concern around reproductive rights in Florida and around the country, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Some members of the public also raised concerns that such information could be used to discriminate against transgender athletes.

The new form will become effective for the 2023-24 school year. [Copyright 2023 NPR]