A pregnant woman from Texas who made news around the world after she protested against being cited for driving in a high-occupancy (HOV) lane in the wake of the state’s new anti-abortion law has been ticketed a second time.
Brandy Bottone, 32 and from Plano, became an international sensation when she was issued her first traffic ticket for violating the HOV rules in June.
She had been driving in a carpool lane on 29 June, just five days after the US supreme court overruled the right to an abortion enshrined in Roe v Wade.
She argued that in the light of the new state of affairs there were two people in her car.
The police officer who pulled her over asked her where was the other person.
“Right here,” she replied, pointing at her belly.
Bottone’s case that Texas was practicing a form of legal hypocrisy was persuasive enough to win a dismissal of that initial traffic fine. That led her to assume that it was henceforth permissible for her and her unborn child to drive in the HOV lane, but she was stopped a second time on 3 August and issued another ticket.
The Dallas Morning News, which broke the story of the second ticket, said Bottone continued to be baffled by the apparent double standards.
“Nobody is answering whether it’s right or wrong, they dismissed it. Why do I have to change my belief? It doesn’t answer the question. Did I get it right or did I get it wrong?”
Days after she received the second citation, Bottone gave birth to a girl. She posted on Instagram: “My second passenger has arrived!”
Last week Texas became the largest state to ban abortions after its trigger law – set in motion by the overturning of Roe – came into effect, cementing already existing state restrictions. Anyone who performs an abortion now faces possible life in prison and fines of at least $100,000.
The ban includes no exceptions for rape or incest.
