A woman driving in the HOV lane in Dallas was given a ticket because she didn’t have a passenger. She told the police officer that she was 34 weeks pregnant, and her unborn child was a second person. He ticketed her.
A pregnant Texas woman who was ticketed for driving in the HOV lane suggested that Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court means that her fetus counted as a passenger, and that she should not have been cited.
Brandy Bottone was recently driving down Central Expressway in Dallas when she was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy at an HOV checkpoint to see whether there were at least two occupants per vehicle as mandated. When the sheriff looked around her car last month, she recounted to The Washington Post that he asked, “Is it just you or is someone else riding with you?”
“I said, ‘Oh, there’s two of us,’” Bottone said. “And he said, ‘Where?’”
Bottone, who was 34 weeks pregnant at the time, pointed to her stomach. Even though she said her “baby girl is right here,” Bottone said one of the deputies she encountered on June 29 told her it had to be “two bodies outside of the body.” While the state’s penal code recognizes a fetus as a person, the Texas Transportation Code does not.
“One officer 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. ‘So I don’t know why you’re not seeing that,’ I said,” she explained to the Dallas Morning News, the first to report the story.
Bottone was issued a $215 ticket for driving alone in the two-or-more occupant lane — a citation she told local media she’d be challenging in court this month.
“I will be fighting it,” Bottone, 32, of Plano, Tex., said to The Post.
The law of unintended consequences. And how about income taxes? Fetuses should be claimed as dependents, obviously.
Great idea.
Would one have to provide a sonogram for proof of twins or more to get more deductions? And in the case of a miscarriage, would one have to pay a penalty for taking a deduction in the previous year?
And the Census! In the year 2000, I had my son in October, so he didn’t count on the spring census.
I love this woman already. That’s what I call citizen engagement!
In Texas and Ohio, if she’s white and pregnant, then she will be able to vote twice.
At least she’s alive, eh!
This court case may have to go all the way to the US Supreme Court for her to win. After all, the five fascist justices couldn’t rule against her once their flawed logic is takin into account.
Gotta say, Lloyd, this Supreme Court is the most illogical POS I have ever seen. The good news is that they are destroying the idea the ‘precedent’ and ‘settled law’ mean anything. Thus, their own excretions can be ignored at any time.
So, when will Biden decide to pack the court? There were 9 justices in 1869. The population has grow, and we ought to have 80 by now. And, there is no mention of how many SC Justices there ought to be in the Constitution, so how could the current ‘origionalist’ clowns make a case? Oh! Wait! They are totally illogical, so ….
This can of worms is just starting. Buckle up and hang on – we are in for a bumpy ride.
Hope you’re right, flos. But isn’t about time the American people removed the worms from the can?
Yes. This court has just begun its revolutionary revision of American law.
The dog caught the car! And, now they have to deal with. Sorry boys (and crazy women) – you can’t have it both ways. In-utero – Either a person or not!
Some will say this is a stunt, a trite silly incident.
THIS IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG!
Picture PROTESTS OF THOUSANDS OF THESE SEEMINGLY MINOR SITUATIONS – PROTESTS VIA LEGAL ACTION – FLOOD THE COURTS!
Organizers – Organize! Activist – Get Active!
For in-utero children, Every pregnant woman should:
Add them as dependent on health forms
Claim them as dependents on tax forms.
Take the tax deduction next April.
Demand they are counted in local census.
Sign them up for food stamps
Take medicare dependent deduction for them
(if divorced) Collect Alimony and CHILD SUPPORT
Declare a runaway biological father as “DEADBEAT” and file charges
THIS IS NOT TO BE SILLY – –
In the words of Arlo Guthrie – “one person does it, they’ll think he’s crazy… but can you imagine 50, 50 people a day…”
Can you imagine thousands upon thousands of pregnant women taking their cases of the above to court!
JUDGES BEWARE: In-Utero – a person or not?
AND — — —
For those pregnancy tests immediately after missing a period – in other words, less that 10 weeks and no heartbeat (electric cell signals but not a heart beat) – – – TAKE YOUR CASES TO COURT AND MAKE THEM PROVE IT IS A PERSON.
Yep. Make them face the consequences of their stupid law. This lady is a feminine Hero. But, let’s not blame Texas. This is a national problem, and will take national action to correct.
Absolutely NATIONAL!
What will get continuous can’t-ignore-it attention: a street march with 1,000 people in every city AND/OR 1,000 court filings for legal status of a fetus.
Force the courts – flood the courts – to prove that a fetus 6 weeks old or “at conception” is a person or not!
Such a great idea. Pro-choice pregnant women pick a rush hour around the country to flood HOV lanes. And pro-choice women who are not pregnant can put a copy of a corporate charter on the driver’s seat, since corporations are people too!
Oh, I LIKE this idea, GregB!
Nadia Suleman (octomom) would have needed her own dedicated highway, never mind a measly HOV lane. Pregnant Nadia was a mob unto herself.
I’m picturing sign-carrying protests by 15wks+ pregnant women. Every 10k-woman protest we can organize gets counted as a 20k+-person protest!
The Fetus Lane
The Fetus Lane
Is NOT insane
It’s for the fetal riders
The fetal tars
For fetal cars
And even fetal drivers
In most red states, you need to be 16 weeks old to get your fetal license.
But you can bet your fetal learners permit at 15 weeks, though you must be with a licensed adult st all times.
And no fetal alcohol until you are 21 weeks, unless you are in Emily Oster’x womb, in which case you may consume alcohol at any time during pregnancy (bug only one glass of wine a day)
And fetal driving under the influence means losing your fetal license for 9 months, which means you actually lose it for over 16 years.
Love this! We need to rebel against this ruling with all we’ve got!
Rightfully so. If one is to cherry pick, then the state of Texas, among others, will have to make the law covers all aspects, not just abortion. I hope Mrs. Bottone wins big.