Woman ticketed for driving solo in carpool lane argues fetus is passenger

A woman from Planos, Texas, was handed a ticket for driving in the carpool lane — she is now arguing that her unborn baby, a fetus, counts as a passenger in the vehicle, and is taking the matter to court.

According to The Dallas Morning News, Brandy Bottone was served with a US$215 ticket — around $280 Canadian.

The incident occurred on June 29, just five days after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the historic ruling that gave people who can get pregnant the autonomy and safety to choose abortion.

“An officer peeked in and asked, ‘Is there anybody else in the car?’ I pointed to my stomach and said, ‘My baby girl is right here. She is a person,’” Bottone told The Dallas Morning News.

She told the officer she wasn’t trying to “throw a political mix here,” but argued that the unborn child counts as a baby, according to the pro-life stance of the Roe v. Wade reversal.

“This has my blood boiling. How could this be fair? According to the new law, this is a life.”

The officer writing Bottone up probably didn’t expect to be faced with that loophole. He told the driver that for her to legally drive in the High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane, the passenger accompanying her must be “outside of the body.”

On July 20, Bottone is scheduled to appear in court to make the argument that the fetus was a passenger and that the ticket should thus be null and void.