On a recent trip from Pittsburgh to Phoenix, I told the TSA agent that I have a knee replacement and was given the choice of going through the full body scanner, which I gladly chose. Personally, I have no objection to the full body scanner, although I fully understand the feelings of those who do. On the return flight from Phoenix, where they have no scanners, I had the horrific experience of having a TSA agent grope my breasts, buttocks and genitals, because I have committed the legal act of having a knee replacement. If I were stopped by a police officer for actually breaking the law, like speeding or going through a red light, the 4th amendment of the Constitution would protect me from unreasonable search and seizure without reasonable cause. I confirmed with Lieutenant Don O’Connor of the McCandless police department in Allegheny County, PA, that his officers would have no authority to perform such a search, and would in fact face criminal charges if they did so. But a law abiding citizen has no such protection.

As the survivor of childhood sexual assault, in the aftermath of this incident, I am now suffering from flashbacks, nausea and, because my job involves travel, possibly the inability to pursue my career. I was accompanied on this trip by my 68 year old relative, who also has a knee replacement and is also a childhood sexual assault survivor. At no time was she told she could elect to have the “enhanced patdown” in private. She had her scalp searched and her groin cupped. In addition, the TSA agent insisted on roughly groping her breasts, and pushing between them, saying she couldn’t stop until she touched her breastbone, causing her not only emotional but physical pain. And to what end?

As far as I know, when the standard security procedure for those who set off the metal detector at the airport was the wanding procedure, no planes blew up. So this new “enhanced patdown” is supposed to detect explosives that would not be detected by a metal detector. Does it seem reasonable to presume that those who have metal surgical devices are more likely than anyone else to be carrying explosives? There is no rational basis to believe there is a correlation and that is outright discrimination against the handicapped. This senseless policy must be immediately stopped. Our federal government has given the terrorists exactly what they want – the destruction of our freedom and safety. The rule of reason must prevail.