Fetus Counts As Car Pool Lane Passenger Under New VA Bill

RICHMOND, VA — Pregnant and commuting? Your fetus could land you a spot in the carpool lane if legislation introduced in the Virginia General Assembly this week is approved, according to reports.

HB 1894, pre-filed by Republican legislator Nick Freitas on Tuesday, "provides that a pregnant woman shall be considered two people for the purposes of determining occupancy" in high-occupancy vehicles and high-occupancy toll lanes on Virginia expressways.

If passed, the legislation would require pregnant people to "certify" their pregnancy with the state Transporation Department, which would then be linked to toll collection devices like E-Z Passes.

The bill is the second to be introduced in the United States following the overturn of Roe vs. Wade, according to The Hill.

Last year, Texas lawmakers introduced a bill permitting pregnant drivers to use any high occupancy vehicle lane "regardless of whether the vehicle is occupied by a passenger other than the operator's unborn child," The Hill reported.

The Texas bill never moved forward in the state legislature.

Meanwhile, reproductive rights advocates claim the bill is another swipe at abortion rights that tries to equate a fetus with a human life, NBC News reported.

"Anti-abortion groups have been looking for ways to change laws in ways that change the definition of a pregnant person from one person to two," Elizabeth Nash, an expert on state legislation at the Guttmacher Institute, told NBC News.

"By doing that, they grant personhood throughout pregnancy," Nash added. "And by considering a pregnant person as two people — in this case, allowing a pregnant person to use an HOV lane — you're ultimately making it harder to uphold abortion rights."