Pregnant Woman Invokes Roe Overturn to Fight HOV Lane Ticket in Texas
Roe v. Wade Woman Fights HOV Ticket ... TX Law Makes My Fetus a Passenger
Not sure the Supreme Court saw this one coming -- Brandy Bottone, who is pregnant, is using the controversial overturn of Roe v. Wade to fight a traffic ticket in Texas ... and her case could set precedent.
Brandy says she was 34 weeks pregnant when she got pulled over in Dallas County for driving solo in the HOV lane. She says she told the cop her unborn fetus was her passenger -- and she cited the SCOTUS decision as she stated her case.
Brandy says, "I pointed to my stomach and said, 'My baby girl is right here. She is a person.'"
She told the cop she didn't want to get political, but the Supreme Court decision -- which leaves it up to states to establish abortion laws -- means that in Texas, her fetus is a person.
The cop didn't buy it, and wrote her a $275 ticket, but Brandy says she plans to fight this one in court. She says Texas law deems "an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization to birth" to be an individual.
Brandy says the cop told her the HOV rules refer to "2 persons outside of the body."
We'll find out when she goes to court July 20. She says, "This has my blood boiling. How could this be fair? According to the new law, this is a life. I know this may fall on deaf ears, but as a woman, this was shocking."
Depending on how high her case ends up going in the Texas courts, it could set a legal precedent in the state -- one we could see play out in other states where new laws are redefining when life begins.
