Pregnant woman says her fetus should count as a passenger in HOV lanes. She got a ticket.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/watchdog/2022/07/08/pregnant-woman-says-her-fetus-should-count-as-a-passenger-in-hov-lanes-she-got-a-ticket/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/jr1V5

In economics, they call it the law of unintended consequences.

An event ultimately produces an outcome, sometimes negative, that was not expected.

That’s what is happening to Brandy Bottone of Plano, a mother who is 34 weeks into her pregnancy.

On June 29 she was driving on U.S. Highway 75 South and headed to the Interstate 635 West interchange. But she had to slam on the brakes because ... well, I’ll let her tell the story:

“I was driving to pick up my son. I knew I couldn’t be a minute late, so I took the HOV [high-occupancy vehicle] lane. As I exited the HOV, there was a checkpoint at the end of the exit. I slammed on my brakes, and I was pulled over by police.

“An officer peeked in and asked, ‘Is there anybody else in the car?’

“I said, ‘Well, yes.’

“He asked, ‘Where?’

“I pointed to my stomach and said, ‘My baby girl is right here. She is a person.’

*snip*

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Actually, I love it.

She should fight the ticket.

[alphafemale]

2. Exactly. Make them state a fetus is not a legal person.

Any court of law should do.

[MontanaMama]

8. THIS.

Get these assholes on record contradicting their own BS.

[uponit7771]

16. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾

[Haggard Celine]

3. People is as people be.

[sir pball]

4. This is playing a very dangerous game.

While I do love the insouciance, there's a non-zero risk that in a birth-slaver state she could actually win her case, and that would be utterly catastrophic. We do not need a single "precedent" defining an embryo/zygote/fetus a Legal Person.

[DFW]

9. While I agree you have a point

I still think that her winning would not necessarily mean a re-affirmation of the position of the Alito Six. For one thing, it would make them a public laughing stock worldwide, and if there is one thing the radical right neither understands nor tolerates, it's humor directed at them.

The next thing would be for a single driver in a car to have the articles of incorporation (or a physical paper statement of a majority stake) of a company with them in the car, and, when stopped in the HOV lane, claim that they have a person with them as defined by the Supreme Court in Citizens United.

What then? The Pro-Print movement starts taking the Supreme Court out to dinner every time they are DC? Bury them with ridicule. Nothing else will, or can, persuade them to ponder their actions. If their deity is so all powerful and all-knowing and so on-their-side, why does he allow the masses to mock them?

[Hekate]

15. Good point there

[jimfields33]

11. We already do with murder. If you murder a pregnant woman, it's

a double homicide. I agree with this. You must as well as it’s been this way for decades.

[lostnfound]

17. I agree with that one also. Justice outweighs consistency

God knows pregnant people deserve all the protection they can get, as they are the targets of so much violence.

[LonePirate]

6. That ticketing officer must have faced quite a moral dilemma.

On one hand, there is the urge by most police officers to ticket/arrest/assault/kill people for no reason at all.

On the other hand, the officer was very likely a right winger, especially in Texas, and party orthodoxy would lead them to believe the fetus did count as a second passenger.

I'm guessing there was a ticket quota to meet and that won out.

[LoisB]

7. Brilliant.

[avebury]

10. She should go ahead an file for a Social Security Card

for her daughter while she is at it.

If a pregnant woman is on food stamps she should file for an increase because she has one more member of the family. Imagine being pregnant when it is time to file your taxes, increase the number of dependents. Imagine a baby daddy who won't step and file for child support while the baby in in the womb. How about purchasing a gun for the fetus since pretty much no background checks are allowed. As for young kid's rates (movies, meals, etc) for everything since the fetus would meet the age requirement and momma is just a carrier. Find lawyers who are willing to give their time to file all kinds of lawsuit for the teaching them the lesson of unintended consequences.

There needs to some really creative people who can come up with as many different things that they can file for or claim because they are pregnant. Take the Rethug idiocy out for a spin and see just how much crap you can create.

[Delmette2.0]

13. The only ones I can think of.

Life insurance.

Child support.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. For this thread

Link to tweet