NewsNational News

Actions

Pregnant woman ticketed for using Texas HOV lane without passenger

Woman claims unborn child should qualify after last month's reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Toll Highways Texas
Posted
and last updated

A pregnant Texas woman is fighting an HOV lane citation after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade.

Brandy Bottone said that her unborn child should count as a passenger. She was fined $215 for driving alone in a two-or-more-occupant lane.

Texas penal code recognizes an unborn child as a person, but traffic laws do not. Amy O’Donnell, a spokeswoman for Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group, told the Dallas Morning News.

“And a child residing in a mother’s womb is not taking up an extra seat. And with only one occupant taking up a seat, the car did not meet the criteria needed to drive in that lane,” O’Donnell said.

Bottone cited inconsistencies in the law after Texas implemented a ban on most abortions.

I got pulled over, and the officer said, ‘Okay, well you are in an HOV lane.’ and I said, ‘Yes,” Bottone said. “ And he said, 'Great, where's your, is there somebody else in the car?' And looking around, I said, 'Well, yes, there is.' And he said, ‘Well, where’ as he's peeking in the, in the car and I pointed in my stomach. I was like, we're right here. And, he said, ‘Well, it's two bodies outside of the body. So that doesn't count.’"

The state prohibits abortions after a heartbeat is detected - generally after six weeks.

"I was kind of in shock. I was like, well, in light of everything that's happened, and I'm not trying to make a huge political stance here, but do you understand that this isn't a baby? He kind of just brushed me off and asked me to go to the other officer to get my citation,” she said.

She is appealing the citation.