A new bill introduced in the Texas state legislature would legally include a child in the womb as a second person in high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes.

State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R) introduced House Bill 521, which entitles a pregnant driver to use any HOV lane in the state, for the 2023 session this week.

The bill’s text states, “An operator of a motor vehicle who is pregnant is entitled to use any high occupancy vehicle lane in this state regardless of whether the vehicle is occupied by a passenger other than the operator’s unborn child.” It is unclear how police would be expected to enforce the law.

The proposed bill comes after Texas woman Brandy Bottone was pulled over in an HOV lane on Central Expressway in Dallas in June and told police that her unborn child should be counted as a second person.

When Bottone was asked who else was in the car, she told WFAA that she pointed to her belly and said, “Uh, this!” She argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade meant that her child should be included as one of two people in her car.

Bottone later received a second ticket for the same offense after her first ticket was dismissed without a court hearing, according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.

“Based on a review of the facts and circumstances of this case, and the applicable law, the state moves to dismiss the case,” the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office reportedly said.

The twice-ticketed mother was asked for her response to the proposed legislation in a report by the Dallas News on Thursday.

“Wow! This is a wonderful step forward for the women of Texas,” Bottone stated. “Pregnancy is stressful, but your anxiety is through the roof without the hassle of being stopped and questioned if another life is on board is a step in the right direction. Baby Charlotte and I are rooting that the bill gets passed and other states follow suit.”

Bottone gave birth to her daughter Charlotte in August.

The Texas legislature returns to session on January 10, where Cain’s bill will be among many under consideration. If approved, the current draft states that the law would go into effect on September 1, 2023.

Even if the bill does pass, it will not guarantee fetal personhood in the state. Texas proposed a fetal personhood bill in 2021 that would include implications regarding the treatment of frozen embryos used as part of in vitro fertilization procedures.

With strong Republican wins in the state legislature across Texas during this month’s election, House Bill 521 has a reasonable chance of passing as part of showing strong support for pro-life legislation in the state. Texas has already passed a fetal heartbeat bill that bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin and actor John Leguizamo suggested Wednesday that some Latino voters were tricked by GOP fear tactics in the midterm elections.

The panel discussed the impact of the Latino vote, particularly following last week's election. Although they noted that Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won re-election in Nevada, the group was concerned over shifts of the Hispanic vote towards the GOP, especially in Florida.

Hostin claimed that these gains were the result of Latino voters falling for the "fear tactics" from Republicans rather than based on any political issues.

"I think, what they do is that they use fear tactics towards Central Americans, South Americans, Cubans," Hostin said. "They start with the communism; they start with the socialism. But they’re not really addressing the issues that Latinos face. And I’m surprised that we fall for it."

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Leguizamo agreed, "Yeah, because we’re not – we’re not as media savvy maybe as we should be. You know what I mean? As a group. So, trigger words get us. But they get White people, too. Trigger words get White people, too."

"They do. They do. ‘Make America great AGAIN,’" Hostin replied.

"Yeah. Yeah. We know what that means: make America White again. I mean, we know it," he joked.

Elsewhere, Leguizamo admitted that Republicans were better at reaching out to Latino voters in contrast with the Democratic Party.

"Well, you know, we’re the largest – one of the largest voting blocks. We’re also the largest minority in the United States. We’re the oldest ethnic group in America. And we vote. But you have to come us. You have to talk about our issues. You have to knock on our doors. You can’t take us for granted and expect us to be there for you. The Republicans understand better and they’re coming for us. They’re putting in our Spanish radio station, on WhatsApp. They come for us and that’s why Latinos are shifting toward them. But just come for us, Democrats," Leguizamo said.

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Co-host Ana Navarro repeatedly denied claims that Republicans are making gains with Hispanics insisting, "They didn’t shift in Arizona!" and "They didn’t shift in Nevada!"

Various other media pundits including former White House press secretary Jen Psaki have also argued that Spanish language "disinformation" was responsible for Republican gains in Florida. It was later reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., won 55% of the Puerto Rican vote along with 50% of all Latino voters in the state.

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Hostin also came under fire in May for claiming that she didn’t "understand" Latino and Black Republicans and they were an "oxymoron." Her comments at the time received heavy backlash from minority conservatives.