Sharon Cissna, Alaska Lawmaker With Mastectomy, Refuses TSA Pat-Down

Alaska state Rep. Sharon Cissna is returning to Juneau today by car, small plane and ferry, rather than by plane as scheduled, because she refused to be patted down by security workers Sunday at the Seattle airport.

Cissna, an Anchorage Democrat who was returning home after a medical treatment, underwent security screening at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where a body scan showed scars on her body from breast cancer. She had undergone a mastectomy in the past, her chief of staff, Michelle Scannell, told The Associated Press.

The 68-year-old lawmaker had been through a pat-down three months ago and decided she would never again "submit to that horror." She said she told the Transportation Security Administration on Sunday that she would "not allow the feeling-up, and I would not use the transportation mode that required it."

The TSA website's guidelines for prosthetics says, "Security officers will need to see and touch your prosthetic device, cast or support brace as part of the screening process." Many women who have had a mastectomy have a prosthetic breast.

Cissna said she has fought for assault victims' rights for 50 years.

"The very last thing an assault victim or molested person can deal with is yet more trauma and the groping of strangers, the hands of government 'safety' policy," she said. "The freedom of travel should never come at the price of basic human dignity and pride."

Cissna is expected back in Juneau on Thursday morning, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

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Alaska Lawmaker With Mastectomy Refuses TSA Pat-Down

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