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In case you’re wondering what happened to Brandy Bottone’s scheduled July 20 traffic court hearing in which she vows to fight an HOV lane violation ticket, it’s postponed.
The reason is because she has hired a lawyer, and that puts the traffic court on a different schedule, she told The Dallas Morning News.
No new court date has been set. But when it is, we’ll let you know.
Six things to know about Brandy Bottone’s sudden battle against hypocrisy and her coming fight in traffic court
On a Friday, she was a pregnant Plano mom fighting a traffic ticket.
By the following Sunday, Brandy Bottone’s story was drawing support from around the world.
It all began when Brandy, 32, was stopped June 29 by Dallas County sheriff’s deputies searching for solo drivers in high-occupancy vehicle lanes. HOV lanes in Texas require two or more people in a vehicle.
When an officer asked her where the second person was, she pointed at her pregnant tummy. She made the argument that under Texas’ new abortion law, a fetus is considered a live human being. She got a ticket anyway and plans to fight it.
Here are six things to know.
1. She was not making a political statement. Her protest, she says, is not either for or against abortion. If the law says a preborn baby is alive, then the HOV rule should reflect that.
2. Since The Watchdog first reported her story, response to her has been overwhelmingly positive. “When it was first posted, I was afraid to read the comments. I was afraid to see the negativity and people fighting,” she told me. Maybe her neutral stance on abortion is the reason why comments on social media have been overwhelmingly positive, although she says her feelings were hurt when one commenter accused her of ruining Texas. As if.
“Almost everybody was in unity, and it didn’t matter what side they were on,” she said.
3. Women, especially, are reaching out. “It’s eye opening to see how many women have messaged me, reached out to me just wanting to be a part of this, saying ‘I’m here to support you.’ People in New Zealand are messaging me right now. I can’t get to everyone. I wish I could just tell them thank you.”
4. A worldwide platform. Her story was featured on The View. The Washington Post, Vanity Fair and People magazine, among others, have shared her story.
5. Her legal strategy. As the overturning of Roe vs. Wade plays out across the U.S., the Plano mom was scheduled for a July 20 court date to fight the ticket. But that court date has been postponed because she hired a law firm to help her. If the judge dismisses the ticket, she said, “that’s not answering the legal question: was it right or was it wrong? If you dismiss the ticket, you do see it [the fetus] as a life.” So then HOV lanes are for women who are pregnant to drive in them, she would contend.
6. Going into her ninth month of pregnancy, how does she deal with the attention? “I’m trying to take it one day at a time and keep my blood pressure down,” she said. Her baby girl’s due date is Aug. 3.
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* Helping a waitress who was harmed by an unscrupulous used car dealer