Lawyer of the Rings

Pity the poor TSA guy that has to explain this:

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― A woman was forced by the Transportation Security Administration to remove her nipple rings before she was allowed to board a flight, an attorney said on Thursday..

Why did it take an attorney to make that statement? Because the attorney was feminist Gloria Allred:

"The woman was given a pair of pliers in order to remove the rings in her nipples," said Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred. "The rings had been in her nipples for many years."

Allred and the woman planned to hold an early-afternoon news conference in Los Angeles to explain what they plan to do "to ensure that no other person is forced to suffer" the same fate, the attorney said in a statement

The Transportation Security Administration does not have a specific policy addressing nipple rings or any other jewelry, said TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird. Baird said he did not know of the incident Allred mentioned in her statement.

"I'd be really curious to know what this woman had in her nipples," Baird said. "Sometimes they have a chain between their nipples, or a chain between their nipples and their belly button. It would have to be made of heavy metal to be detected."

Transportation Security employees are required to check anything that raises concerns at checkpoints, Baird said.

If you think a right to abortion was hard to find in the Constitution, wait until they try to find a right to nipple rings.

UPDATE: A photo not to be missed.

UPDATE 2: The TSA will be changing their policy:

TSA has reviewed the circumstances related to the screening of a passenger with body piercings that occurred recently in Lubbock, Texas. It appears that the Transportation Security Officers involved properly followed procedures in that incident. They rightly insisted that the alarm that was raised be resolved. TSA supports the thoroughness of the Officers involved as they were acting to protect the passengers and crews of the flights departing Lubbock that day.

TSA has reviewed the procedures themselves and agrees that they need to be changed. In the future TSA will inform passengers that they have the option to resolve the alarm through a visual inspection of the article in lieu of removing the item in question. TSA acknowledges that our procedures caused difficulty for the passenger involved and regrets situation in which she found herself. We appreciate her raising awareness on this issue and we are changing the procedures to ensure that this does not happen again.

So, will each airport now have an official "Nipple Ring Inspector"?