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A pregnant Texas woman who was pulled over for driving in the high-occupancy vehicle lane tried to argue that her unborn baby counts as a second person. Brandy Bottone was stopped at a checkpoint targeting people driving in the HOV by themselves.
When the officer came to her window, Bottone explained that she is 34 weeks pregnant and that her child was the other passenger.
"He's like, 'Is it just you?' And I said, 'No, there's two of us?" Bottone told KXAS. "And he said, 'Well, where's the other person.'"
The officer rebuffed her argument, but she pressed on, citing the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
"He was like, 'I don't want to deal with this.' He said, 'Ma'am, it means two persons outside of the body,'" Bottone told the Dallas Morning News.
The officer then sent Bottone over to another cop, who issued her a $275 ticket, though he noted it would likely get dropped if she fights it in court.
"He waved me on to the next cop, who gave me a citation and said, 'If you fight it, it will most likely get dropped.'
Even though the officer suggested the ticket would get dropped, Bottone is still livid that she was ticketed.
"This has my blood boiling. How could this be fair? According to the new law, this is a life," Bottone said. "I know this may fall on deaf ears, but as a woman, this was shocking."
Her court hearing is scheduled for July 20. It is unclear if she has hired a lawyer to help her fight the ticket.