Two female college students said they were forced to endure almost weekly vaginal probes as part of a medical diagnostic sonography class at a Florida community college, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court.



The lawsuit by the women, identified as Jane Doe I and Jane Doe II, accuses Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, of violating their right to free speech and to protection from unwarranted searches under the first and fourth amendments.

But Carol Traynor, a spokeswoman for Valencia College, said in a statement on Monday that using volunteers, including students, for medical sonography training was a nationally accepted practice.

The women’s lawsuit contends they protested but were bullied into submission.

“Valencia’s established and widespread policy was to browbeat students who did not consent to those invasive probes and threaten plaintiffs’ academic standing as well as their future careers until the students complied,” the lawsuit states.

The procedure in question involved a transvaginal ultrasound probe in which a technician inserts a lubricated probe to detect problems with fertility or other issues, according to the lawsuit, which describes the probe as large and not recommended for females who have not had sexual intercourse.

The women allege they submitted under duress to the probes, which at times required their bodies to be sexually stimulated by other students to facilitate insertion, according to the complaint filed by lawyer Christopher R Dillingham.

“Plaintiffs endured these invasive probes without a modicum of privacy. Plaintiffs would disrobe in a restroom, drape themselves in towels, and traverse the sonography classroom in full view of instructors and other students,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit states that students in the Valencia program were able to practise on actual patients during clinics in hospital and had available anatomically correct dummies.

The complaint states that the clinical and laboratory co-ordinator initially told the students that the probes were voluntary. But when the women protested they were told they could find a different school, would be blacklisted from local hospital jobs and their grades would be reduced, the complaint says.

Dillingham wrote in the complaint that he had been unable to find another sonography program in which students practised vaginal probes on each other.