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A Virginia bill would deem a pregnant person's fetus a passenger in a car, thereby allowing the vehicle to use the car pool lane on highways.
Reproductive rights activists say the legislation amounts to a thinly veiled attempt by anti-abortion Republican lawmakers to further curtail abortion rights by advancing so-called personhood laws that seek to protect the rights of the unborn through unconventional avenues.
HB 1894, which a Republican legislator pre-filed in the General Assembly on Tuesday, "provides that a pregnant woman shall be considered two people for the purposes of determining occupancy" in high occupancy vehicle and high occupancy toll lanes on expressways in the state.
The legislation would require pregnant people to show "proof" of pregnancy, obtainable by having "certified" their pregnancies with the state Transportation Department. Under the bill, the certifications would then be "linked" to toll collection devices — typically E-Z Passes — in vehicles.
The bill is the second of its kind ever proposed; last year, Texas Republicans introduced a similar measure. Texas' HB 521 also would have allowed a solo pregnant driver to use high occupancy lanes, proposing that the unborn child being carried amounted to a person deserving full human rights.
www.nbcnews.com
Reproductive rights activists say the legislation amounts to a thinly veiled attempt by anti-abortion Republican lawmakers to further curtail abortion rights by advancing so-called personhood laws that seek to protect the rights of the unborn through unconventional avenues.
HB 1894, which a Republican legislator pre-filed in the General Assembly on Tuesday, "provides that a pregnant woman shall be considered two people for the purposes of determining occupancy" in high occupancy vehicle and high occupancy toll lanes on expressways in the state.
The legislation would require pregnant people to show "proof" of pregnancy, obtainable by having "certified" their pregnancies with the state Transportation Department. Under the bill, the certifications would then be "linked" to toll collection devices — typically E-Z Passes — in vehicles.
The bill is the second of its kind ever proposed; last year, Texas Republicans introduced a similar measure. Texas' HB 521 also would have allowed a solo pregnant driver to use high occupancy lanes, proposing that the unborn child being carried amounted to a person deserving full human rights.
Virginia bill would count a fetus as a car passenger in HOV lanes
Reproductive rights advocates warn that the bill is the latest attempt by anti-abortion Republicans to cut away at abortion rights by pushing "personhood" laws.
www.nbcnews.com
