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

Authored by yahoo.com and submitted by Havvocck2

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."

Image: Brandy Bottone (NBC Dallas-Fort Worth)

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

Video: Pregnant Texas woman argues unborn baby counts as passenger in HOV lane

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.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Cuddle_Smuggler on September 2nd, 2022 at 08:21 UTC »

So you can’t kill it in the womb and you can’t use it in the carpool lane. What’s it good for?

PrincepsMagnus on September 2nd, 2022 at 02:31 UTC »

More pregnant women in Texas should be using those lanes.

Splinter_Steve on September 1st, 2022 at 21:19 UTC »

Brilliant. Just brilliant.