Texas woman who argues unborn child counts as passenger for HOV lanes issued a 2nd citation for same offense

PLANO, Texas (KWTX) - Brandy Bottone, a pregnant Texas woman who claims she has a right to drive in HOV lanes because of her unborn child counts as a passenger in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, has been ticketed a second time for the same offense, according to the Dallas Morning News and NBC News.

Brandy Bottone got a $215 ticket after she was stopped at an HOV checkpoint near Dallas on June 29, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

When the sheriff’s deputy asked who else was in the car, she pointed to her stomach, indicating her unborn child. She was 34 weeks pregnant at the time, according to The Washington Post.

“I pointed to my stomach. I was like, ‘Right here.’ And he said, ‘Well, it’s two bodies outside of the body. So, that doesn’t count,’” Bottone told CNN.

NBC News reports that argument was good enough to win a dismissal.

“Yes, Ms. Bottone’s HOV case was dismissed,” a Dallas County district attorney’s employee told NBC News. “The defendant received a second HOV citation about a month after the first. This second citation is currently pending.”

In an interview with the Today Show, Bottone revealed she received yet another ticket for the same offense and it was issued by same sheriff’s deputy.

She reportedly plans to fight the second citation.

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