Pregnant woman’s surprise excuse to avoid ticket

A pregnant woman in Texas has used an unexpected reason to avoid a fine after being pulled over for using the carpool lane.

A pregnant woman in Texas is making headlines after making an unlikely claim to fight the $400 fine she was issued for driving in a commuter lane.

Brandy Bottone, 32, was 34 weeks pregnant when she was stopped by police for driving in a an HOV lane – which stands for high-occupancy vehicle lane. But when one of the officers told her there must be at least two people in the car to ride in the lane, she had an unexpected comeback.

Bottone was 34 weeks pregnant when the incident happened. Picture: NBC

Bottone was pulled over for driving in a lane that was reserved for cars with two or more people. Picture: NBC

“I pointed to my stomach and said, ‘My baby girl is right here. She is a person,’” Ms Bottone told The Dallas Morning News.

When the officer responded that the rule meant “two people outside of the body”, Ms Bottone pointed out that the US Supreme Court overturning of Roe v Wade on June 24 meant that her foetus was now considered a living person.

“I said, ‘Well [I’m] not trying to throw a political mix here, but with everything going on, this counts as a baby,” she told NBC-Dallas-Fort Worth.

Apparently the officer “didn’t want to deal with this” and issued her with a $US275 ($A400) fine, but the 32-year-old isn’t letting that be the end of the matter.

“This has my blood boiling. How could this be fair? According to the new law, this is a life,” she said. “I know this may fall on deaf ears, but as a woman, this was shocking.”

Ms Bottone said she intended to fight the ticket, despite police officers telling her the case would likely be dismissed.

“One law says it’s one way, and another law says it’s another way,” she said.

She argued that if Texas abortion laws now saw a foetus as a person, she should be allowed to drive in the lane. Picture: NBC

Dallas lawyer Chad Ruback told NBC that the case could go either way.

“There is no Texas statute that says what to do in this situation,” he said.

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling of Roe v Wade last month means that millions of women in the US will lose the legal right to have an abortion.

Abortion rights will now be determined by individual states, with more than half already passing or expected to pass laws that ban abortions. Others have enacted strict regulations around the procedure.