Shawn Johnson East is calling out the TSA for mistreatment during a recent airport screening and we are fuming right along with her. Before a recent flight, East explained in a series of now-expired Instagram Story posts (captured by People), the former Olympic gymnast says she was “groped and yelled at” by a TSA worker. All because she was carrying pumped breastmilk in her carry-on bag.
According to the TSA website, “Formula, breast milk and juice in quantities greater than 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters are allowed in carry-on baggage and do need to not fit within a quart-sized bag.” The regulations also state that passengers carrying breast milk do not need to be accompanied by a child.
Without getting into details, East says she was “groped and yelled at” by the TSA agent who performed her screening. “To the lady at the TSA security checkpoint having a bad day… I’m really sorry you have had a bad day but take it out on me was unnecessary,” East wrote in one post. “I can honestly say that was one of the worst experiences I have [sic].”
East says she was returning from her first solo trip without her son, Jett James, who was born in July. She has been candid about her breastfeeding struggles with both her children, previously explaining that she pumped full-time for her daughter Drew Hazel (who was born in 2019) and whom she shares, along with Jett, with husband Andrew East.
“We as mamas have a duty to our babies and a right in this world to carry breast milk through security,” Johnson East wrote in a separate post. “Having you public[ly] humiliate me in proving to you it was actually breast milk was against my rights. To then be groped and yelled at in public was excessive.”
“I know you were doing your job…but so was I,” she added.
Celebrate the beauty of different breastfeeding journeys through these photographs.
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