A pregnant Texas woman who claimed her unborn baby counts as a passenger in the HOV lane is ticketed again

Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by AudibleNod
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A pregnant Texas woman who claimed she was entitled to drive in a high occupancy vehicle lane because of her unborn child received another ticket for the same offense, authorities said Tuesday.

Brandy Bottone, a 32-year-old Plano resident, became an unlikely focal point of the nation's post-Roe debate after she was pulled over in a carpool lane June 29.

A sheriff's deputy cited her for driving alone in the HOV lane that requires drivers to have at least one other person in the car — and Bottone claimed that the one other person was the unborn child in her womb.

She insisted that with the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade on June 24, her unborn child now was recognized as a living person.

Her argument was apparently good enough to win a dismissal. It wasn't immediately clear if that second ticket, picked up Aug. 3, would also be kicked out.

"Yes, Ms. Bottone’s HOV case was dismissed," a Dallas County district attorney's representative said in a statement to NBC News. "The defendant received a second HOV citation about a month after the first. This second citation is currently pending."

Bottone did not return several phone calls, emails and text messages Tuesday and Wednesday seeking her comment.

She told the Dallas Morning News on Sunday that the second HOV pullover happened on U.S. Highway 75 South near Midpark Road and the deputy knew exactly who she was.

“You again?” Bottone quoted the deputy as saying.

“So, when are you going to have this baby?” the deputy allegedly asked.

“Oh, good luck,” she quoted the deputy as saying before issuing her the ticket.

Bottone has since given birth to a girl, the paper reported.

reddideridoo on August 31st, 2022 at 20:06 UTC »

Please bring on the legal clusterfuck, oh yeah.

Gucci_Unicorns on August 31st, 2022 at 19:11 UTC »

Lmao that last Judge was like nope, not dealing with this precedent shit.

AudibleNod on August 31st, 2022 at 18:57 UTC »

Sounds like the judge sidestepped the entire argument by dismissing the case outright.

If this keeps happening, pregnant women will be de facto free to use the HOV lane because the judge/DA's office don't want to open that can of worms.

Either way, drive safe out there.