A pregnant woman battling for her $215 ticket for riding an HOV lane and claiming her unborn child as a passenger says she was told to have an abortion.
Brandy Bottone, 34, said she has faced backlash since announcing she would be contesting the ticket, arguing that her unborn daughter should count as a person under Texas state law, and therefore should use the job that is reserved for multi-passenger vehicles.
In fact, a review of comments on Twitter shows that some conservatives are calling Bottone a “Karen” and saying she is “incredibly spoiled.”
One user also told her to “pay the ticket like any other citizen,” and said “women should stop making everything a problem,” while another called her “the same kind of b**** to ask [speak to] your companion when you run out of sour cream.’
“Your incompetence and selfish rhetoric is not supported by the Lord, he probably condemns it,” the Twitter users wrote.
Others have said she has no education and is just a Dallas housewife looking for something to do, the Plano mom told TMZand another said she ruined Texas.
But, she said, “The meanest thing I’ve seen, and then I had to stop reading… someone told me to have an abortion.
“I was like, ‘Wow, okay, I know where that person is on everything,’” she said, “and then I stopped reading.”
Bottone, who is eight months pregnant, called the post “triggering,” but told TMZ that all the negative posts she’s seeing now are “no sweat off my back.”
Brandy Bottone, 34, of Plano (pictured), said she’s faced some backlash from conservatives since announcing she would fight a $215 ticket for using the higher-occupancy roadway and claiming her unborn daughter as a passenger
Still, she said she is concerned that the stress will give her premature birth for her daughter, who is due in August.
She said she is now just “trying to keep blood pressure low” and “taking it day by day.”
And for the most part Bottone told the Dallas Morning Newsthe response to her legal battle was positive.
“It’s an eye opener to see how many women have messaged me because they want to be a part of this and say, ‘I’m here to support you,’” Bottone said, adding: “People in New- Zealand are now messaging me.
“I can’t get to everyone,” she said of the barrage of messages. “I wish I could thank them.”
Bottone, right, insists she was not trying to make a political statement when she claimed her unborn daughter as her passenger on June 28, following the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
A review of comments on Twitter shows some conservatives are calling her a ‘Karen’ and a ‘b****’, saying she should ‘pay for the ticket like any other citizen’
Bottone insists she wasn’t trying to make a political statement when she decided to use the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade in her favor after she was arrested in Dallas County on June 28.
“I didn’t mean to stir a pot,” she told TMZ in an exclusive interview. “I felt I was right.”
She has previously explained that she was rushing to pick up her son from school when she was stopped for using the higher lane and told that being 34 weeks pregnant did not count as another passenger in the car.
“I had no idea what was going on, I stepped on my brakes. I thought maybe they were looking for someone or there was a car wreck,” she said in an interview with CNN.
‘Never in my wildest dreams was it an HOV checkpoint. I was pulled over and the officer said “you are in a HOV job”.
‘Then he said ‘great where is the other one, is there anyone else in the car?’
“When I looked around I said yes there it is he said ‘well where’ as he peeked into the car I pointed to my stomach and he said here.
He said, ‘Well, it’s two bodies outside the body, so that doesn’t count.’
Bottone explained she was rushing to pick up her son from school when she was stopped for using the HOV lane, and was told being 34 weeks pregnant didn’t count as another passenger in the car.
“I was a little bit in shock considering everything that happened, I asked if you understand this is a baby.
“He just waved me off and asked me to go to the other officer to pick up my subpoena. I spoke to that officer and I said something similar.
He said, ‘Ma’am, this is what you’ve been quoted for and frankly, if you fight against this, I’m sure it will be scrapped.’
“That kind of made me cook at the time, not only was I fired, I didn’t talk about it.
“But it was just wasted my time and I’ll have to waste my time on July 20 fighting a ticket that I don’t think I should have gotten.”
The problem arises because the Texas Penal Code recognizes an unborn child as a person, but the Texas Transportation Code does not.
Under current law, in order to use the HOV runway, at least two passengers must be seated in a separate seat, which a child still in the womb does not do
A police officer told Bottone on June 28 that passengers must be “out of the body” even though Texas state law claims that unborn children are people
Under current law, in order to use the HOV runway, at least two passengers must be seated in a separate seat, which a child still in the womb does not do
Meanwhile, abortions are virtually impossible in Texas after the Supreme Court’s quashing of Roe v. Wade last month.
Texas law states that abortions are illegal in the state after six weeks of pregnancy, claiming the unborn child is a person.
There are no exceptions for rape or incest cases, although there is one for women who are at risk of “significant impairment of important bodily functions.”
Bottone now plans to challenge the ticket when she goes to court on July 20.
A fundraiser founded for the director of marketing operations by her family has also raised more than $1,000. All funds, relatives have said, will be donated to an organization that supports women’s abortion rights in Texas.
The Dallas County Sheriff declined to comment on Bottone’s pregnancy argument.