Texas Bill Will Allow Pregnant Women to Use Carpool Lane, Count Unborn Child as Second Passenger

Second time's a charm? Republican Texas State Rep. Briscoe Cain proposed a bill that would allow pregnant drivers to use HOV lanes, his second attempt since 2022.

"Texas law has long recognized that an unborn child is a person for purposes of our penal code. It is past time that other parts of our laws recognize this fact—an unborn child is a person," he said in a statement at the time, according to the Houston Chronicle.

His latest bill, HB 427, uses similar wording and would allow pregnant drivers to use any HOV lane in the state "regardless of whether the vehicle is occupied by a passenger other than the operator's unborn child," the Houston Chronicle reported.

As the law stands, all HOV lanes must have two or more occupants outside of the womb, despite the Texas Penal Code asserting that an unborn child is a person "at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth."

If Cain's bill is approved, it will go into effect on Sept. 1, 2025.