Texas Woman Who Got Ticket for Driving in HOV Lane Argues Unborn Child Should Count as Second Person (UPDATE)

UPDATED 7/12, 10:30 a.m. ET: Brandy Bottone says people have been telling her to get an abortion based on her decision to use the overturning of Roe v. Wade to fight a traffic ticket. She told TMZ that the hate mail has been “triggering,” so she’s stopped reading anything to do with her story.

See original story below.

A pregnant woman from Plano, Texas who got a ticket for driving in an HOV lane has argued that her unborn child should count as a second person following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

As NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reported, Brandy Bottone was driving alone on U.S. Highway 75 to pick up her son on June 29. She took an HOV lane to avoid being late, but she was later pulled over by a patrol officer after she attempted to exit the expressway. In order to use these lanes, the individual driving must be accompanied by at least one other passenger. Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, she argued that the $275 ticket shouldn’t count because she is 34 weeks pregnant.

“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,’” at which point she gestured towards her stomach. However, the officer said that her unborn child does not count, even though Texas penal code currently recognizes an unborn child as a person. As it stands, Texas transportation code does not recognize a fetus as a person. Bottone plans to fight against the ticket in court.