Pregnant driver ticketed in Texas HOV lane says fetus is a passenger

When Brandy Bottone, who is 34 weeks pregnant, was stopped for driving her GMC in an HOV lane despite what appeared to be a single occupant in her car, the Plano, Texas, resident had a ready answer for the traffic cop: If lawmakers consider her fetus a person, it should be considered a passenger in her car as well.

That line of reasoning failed, at least with the cops: Bottone, 32, was issued a traffic ticket for violating the HOV lane restriction requiring two or more occupants. But she plans to fight it in court.

Bottone was stopped at an HOV checkpoint June 29 on the way to pick up her son, she told the Dallas Morning News. According to her description of events, the officer asked Bottone where the second occupant was. Bottone pointed toward her belly and explained that "with everything going on with the overturning of Roe v. Wade," her fetus was a passenger.

Bottone was citing the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned 1973's Roe v. Wade decision. The June 24 decision by Republican-appointed justices lets each state write up their own laws concerning abortion.

In Texas, the ruling activated a so-called "trigger law," which the Texas Tribune describes as banning all abortions from the moment of fertilization except in cases where the mother has health conditions that are life-threatening or that will result in "substantial impairment of major bodily function."