The Alaska state representative who refused a pat-down from TSA workers at Sea-Tac Airport earlier this week and had to take a ferry home told KIRO 7 that she's getting right to work crafting legislation to protect other travelers' rights.

Rep. Sharon Cissna was scheduled to fly from Seattle to Juneau on Monday, and was directed to enter a full-body scanner at Sea-Tac by Transportation Security Administration agents.

"I didn't realize that thay had a full scanner there; I thought they had taken it out," Cissna said.

Cissna said she went through the scanner and was then selected for a hand search because of her prosthetic breast. Cissna is an eight-year cancer survivor who's had a mastectomy.

"It was probably an oversight on my part," Cissna said. "But as I'm facing the woman who tells me she's going to do the feel-up, the instant she started talking, I said no."

It would have been her second pat-down in the last three months.

"It was invasive, it was feeling you up -- it was exactly that," Cissna said of her first pat-down. "It was an absolutely horrendous experience. It was like a torture of a kind."

The 68-year-old Alaska Democrat wasn't allowed to fly from Sea-Tac, and opted to travel home by ferry.

Cissna has now joined a growing list of travelers who have complained about what they call "intrusive" behavior by the TSA.

The ACLU said it has received more than 1,000 similar complaints from breast cancer survivors and other travelers.

Cissna, who is originally from the Seattle area, vowed to use her position in the Alaska state House to fight for the rights of others, and bring changes federal policies that allow hand searches to take place.

KIRO 7 contacted the TSA for comment, and they responded with the following statement:

Our security officers are trained to work with each individual traveler to ensure a respectful screening process, while providing the best possible security for everyone. We are sensitive to travelers' concerns, but security is not optional. We have reached out to Rep. Cissna's staff to explain that our responsibility is to keep the traveling public safe and discuss some of the policies in place to carry out this mission, including conducting pat downs to resolve alarms during screening. At any point, any passenger can request to be screened in a private location and can have a witness present. If a person is unwilling to complete the screening process, he/she will not be able to board his/her flight.