The pregnant woman who attempted to claim her unborn baby was a passenger to fight a traffic ticket in Texas following the overturning of Roe V Wade says she’s been hit with a horrendous backlash.
Brandy Bottone, who is 36 weeks pregnant, was driving down US Highway 75 South and headed to the Interstate 635 West to pick her son up from school.
Bottone was using the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, which is cars carrying more than one person, when she was pulled over by the police.
When questioned by police, Bottone attempted to use the overturning of Roe V Wade to her advantage and claimed that the unborn child she is carrying was a passenger.
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Bottone, who is already a mum-of-two, said: “One officer kind of brushed me off when I mentioned this is a living child, according to everything that’s going on with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 'So I don’t know why you’re not seeing that'."
But the officer insisted it had to be two passengers outside the body.
As a result, Bottone received a $275 (£228) fine, while the officer told her it would probably get dropped if she challenged it - she said she plans to fight the ticket if it comes to it.
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After her story went viral, Bottone said she was met with a harsh backlash from some, with some trolls even telling her to abort her baby.
Bottone says she’s currently just taking ‘one day at a time’ and attempting to ‘keep her blood pressure down’ following the abuse.
Speaking to TMZ, she said: “The backlash I’ve seen has been… I mean, I guess I ruined someone’s experience of Texas, which… I don’t know how I did that. That was an interesting one.
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“I’ve obviously gotten that I’m not educated or I’m a Dallas housewife, needing something to do, which is completely false. I’m full-time… I work hard and it wasn’t my intention to just stir the pot.”
She went on to say that she had argued about the ticket because she felt she was in the right.
Talking about the abuse, she added: “The meanest one I have seen - and I had to stop after that just because it’s triggering, not only for me but anyone reading it - someone told me to go and get an abortion.
“And so… I was, like, ‘wow OK well, I know where that person stands on everything’.
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“I just stopped reading and if I do see things come through at our negative, it’s no sweat off my back. I have tough skin.”
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Claire Reid