The Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade led a pregnant Texas woman who was an HOV Ticket for driving in the HOV lane to argue that because her fetus was considered a passenger, she should not have received a penalty.
Brandy Bottone was recently stopped by a sheriff’s officer at an HOV checkpoint while traveling down Central Expressway in Dallas to make sure there were at least two people per car as required by law. The sheriff questioned her after looking around her car, “Are you traveling alone or is there someone else with you?”
“Oh, there are two of us,” I answered,” Bottone recalled. And he said, “Where?”
HOV Ticket Challenged By Woman
Bottone indicated to her stomach while still 34 weeks pregnant. Despite Bottone’s assertion that her “baby girl is right here,” a deputy she contacted on June 29 informed her that there were “two corpses outside of the body.” The officer then gave her an HOV Ticket. The Texas Transportation Code does not recognize a fetus as a person, despite the state’s penal code doing so.
Bottone was given a $215 HOV Ticket for using the two-or-more occupant lane while driving alone; she told the local media that she would be contesting the charge in court this month. The announcement comes as the effects of the Supreme Court’s ruling are being felt across the nation.
In response to mounting pressure from activists, President Biden gave an impassioned speech on Friday in which he announced a number of initiatives to support abortion rights. Although most pro-abortion advocates applauded Biden for signing an executive order to improve access to reproductive healthcare services, many believed it would have little impact on women living in areas where abortion is illegal. In describing the Dobbs decision as “the Supreme Court’s awful, severe and, I think, so absolutely wrongheaded judgment,” the president acknowledged the boundaries of his executive authority.
