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, TX, 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.
“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.’
“He said, ‘Oh, no. It’s got to be two people outside of the body.’
“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,’ I said.
“He was like, ‘I don’t want to deal with this.’ He said, ‘Ma’am, it means two persons outside of the body.’
“He waved me on to the next cop who gave me a citation and said, ‘If you fight it, it will most likely get dropped.’
“But they still gave me a ticket. So my $215 ticket was written to cause inconvenience?
“This has my blood boiling. How could this be fair? According to the new law, this is a life.
“I know this may fall on deaf ears, but as a woman, this was shocking.”
I mean, might as well make the argument!