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  [85]Texas

Texas woman given traffic ticket says unborn child counts as second passenger

  Brandy Bottone, who is 34 weeks pregnant, pulled over by police for
  driving in high-occupancy vehicle lane for two or more people
  An HOV lane in Los Angeles. Bottone said: `I know this may fall on deaf
  ears, but as a woman, this was shocking.'
  [ ]
  An HOV lane in Los Angeles. Bottone said: `I know this may fall on deaf
  ears, but as a woman, this was shocking.' Photograph: Paul Buck/EPA
  An HOV lane in Los Angeles. Bottone said: `I know this may fall on deaf
  ears, but as a woman, this was shocking.' Photograph: Paul Buck/EPA


  [86]Gloria Oladipo
  [87]@gaoladipo
  Sat 9 Jul 2022 10.30 EDTLast modified on Sat 9 Jul 2022 10.31 EDT
    *
    *
    *

  A pregnant woman in [88]Texas told police that her unborn child counted
  as an additional passenger after being cited for driving alone in a
  high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, offering up a potentially clever
  defense for motorists navigating the legal landscape following the
  supreme court's striking down of nationwide abortion rights last month.
  Joe Biden signs executive order protecting access to abortion
  Read more

  Brandy Bottone of Plano, Texas, tried to fight a ticket for driving
  with only one passenger in an HOV lane - which requires at least two
  people in the car - by arguing that her unborn baby should count as her
  second passenger.

  "[The officer] starts peeking around. He's like, `Is it just you?' And
  I said, `No there's two of us?'" Bottone recounted [89]to NBC 5
  Dallas-Fort Worth. "And he said, `Well where's the other person?' And I
  went, `Right here,'" pointing to her stomach.

  On 29 June, Bottone, who is 34 weeks pregnant, was driving on US
  Highway 75 to go pick up her son.

  To avoid being late to get him, Bottone took an HOV lane, but a patrol
  officer pulled her over while trying to exit the expressway, [90]the
  Dallas Morning News first reported.

  An officer approached Bottone's car, asking where her second required
  passenger was. When Bottone tried to argue that her unborn baby should
  count as the additional rider given [91]Texas's abortion ban after the
  overturning of federal abortion protections, officers did not agree.

  "One officer kind of brushed me off when I mentioned this is a living
  child, according to everything that's going on with the overturning of
  [92]Roe v Wade," Bottone told the officer, referring to the landmark
  1973 supreme court case that granted federal abortion rights. "`So I
  don't know why you're not seeing that,' I said."

  The officer told Bottone that to drive in the HOV lane, she needed her
  additional passenger to be outside her body.

  The officer ultimately gave Bottone a $275 ticket, telling her that if
  she fought the citation in court, it would probably be dropped.

  "This has my blood boiling. How could this be fair? According to the
  new law, this is a life," Bottone said to the Morning News. "I know
  this may fall on deaf ears, but as a woman, this was shocking."

  Bottone was pulled over by a deputy with the Dallas county sheriff's
  department, who is employed by the Texas department of transportation
  to enforce HOV rules on the US 75, the Morning News reported.

  While the Texas penal code recognizes an unborn baby as a person,
  current transportation law in the state does not.

  Legal experts have argued that Bottone's argument brings up a unique,
  legal gray area that the courts are getting acquainted with following
  the rollback of Roe v wade.

  "Different judges might treat this differently," Dallas appellate
  lawyer Chad Ruback told the local NBC affiliate. "This is uncharted
  territory we're in now.

  "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."

  But Bottone said that the state should not be able to have it both
  ways.

  "I really don't think it's right because one law is saying it one way
  but another law is saying it another way," Bottone said to the NBC
  station.
  Topics
    * [93]Texas

    * [94]US politics
    * [95]Roe v Wade
    * [96]Abortion
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