Pregnant Dallas woman, Brandy Bottone, ticketed $250 for driving alone in the HOV lane, told cop in the light of the Roe V. Wade recession her foetus counted as a passenger

A pregnant woman in Texas told the authorities that her unborn child counted as an additional passenger after being cited for driving in the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. She plans on fighting the ticket

According to NBC News, the woman, Brandy Bottone, was driving down Central Expressway when she was stopped at a sheriff’s checkpoint targeting HOV drivers breaking the rules. By law, in order to use the high-occupancy vehicle lanes, drivers must have at least one passenger in the vehicle.

“He starts peeking around. He’s like, ‘Is it just you?’ And I said, ‘No there’s two of us?’” Bottone said. “And he said, ‘Well where’s the other person.’ And I went, ‘right here,’” pointing to her stomach.

She was 34 weeks pregnant at the time of the incident.

The officer told her that doesn’t count.

“And then I said, ‘Well (I’m) not trying to throw a political mix here, but with everything going on (with Roe v. Wade), this counts as a baby,’” she said.

What’s interesting is that the Texas penal code recognizes an unborn child as a person, the state’s transportation code doesn’t.

She ended up getting a $275 ticket.

Legal experts have already begun giving their two cents on it.

“Different judges might treat this differently. This is unchartered territory we’re in now,” said Dallas appellate lawyer Chad Ruback. “There is no Texas statute that says what to do in this situation. The Texas Transportation Code has not been amended recently to address this particular situation. Who knows? Maybe the legislature will in the next session.”