At 34 weeks pregnant, Brandy Bottone was fined $US215 ($AUS314) for driving in a T2 lane by herself.
But it’s a penalty she is now fighting to be revoked, citing Roe v Wade’s recent overturning by the Supreme Court to claim that the finding means her unborn baby counted as another passenger.
Bottone was driving on a highway in Dallas on June 29 when she was stopped at a checkpoint, where she was asked by a sheriff’s deputy if she was the only person in the vehicle.
“No, there’s two of us,” Bottone said, and when the officer asked her where the other person was, she pointed to her belly.
Bottone, a Texas citizen, is due to appear in court on July 20, roughly the same time she is due to give birth.
Currently, Texas’ penal code recognises a foetus as a person. However, the Texas Transportation Code does not.
Source: The ‘Feminist hero’ citing Supreme Court ruling to drive in T2 lane