(stock image via Depositphotos)A pregnant woman in Dallas attempted to argue her way out of a ticket after using the HOV lane even though she was alone in the car.
Her argument? In light of the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, and numerous Texas officials arguing a fetus is a person, she told the officers there were two people in the car: herself and the 34-week-old fetus in her stomach.
A DFW woman was pulled over and ticketed for driving alone in the HOV lane. She’s 34 weeks pregnant and tells the cop her unborn child counts as a passenger since Roe V. Wade was overturned. The state can’t have it both ways, she argues. https://t.co/eFTvElIMhG
— Dom DiFurio (@DomDiFurio) July 9, 2022
From the Houston Chronicle:
Plano resident Brandy Bettone was driving along U.S. Highway 75 en route to picking up her son when she found herself at a checkpoint facing a citation for using the high-occupancy vehicle lane while alone in her car.
Bettone said officers asked her if there were any more occupants inside her vehicle. Pregnant with a daughter, Bettone told the officers her unborn child was inside the vehicle with her, according to Lieber.
“I pointed to my stomach and said, ‘My baby girl is right here. She is a person,'” Bettone said. However the officers were not buying it. “He said, ‘Oh, no. It’s got to be two people outside of the body.'”
Bettone told the Dallas Morning News that one officer present at the time “kind of brushed me off when I mentioned this is a living child, according to everything that’s going on with the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”
In the end, Bettone received a $215 citation along with advice from the issuing officer suggesting that if she fought it, it would most likely get dropped.
If a fetus is a person, a pregnant woman should be able to use the HOV lane, right?
A Texas woman, Brandy Bottone, who received an HOV violation, will make this argument to a court.
— Don Lewis (@DonLew87) July 9, 2022
A pregnant woman in Dallas was pulled over for using the HOV lane and is arguing that her unborn fetus should count as a passenger because of Texas’ abortion laws. Let the mental gymnastics begin.
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) July 9, 2022