Contact Your Lawmakers!

If you live in an area where there are carpool lanes, your help is urgently needed to change existing laws so the unborn and their mothers have the right to ride in these commuter lanes. You can petition your lawmakers to get unfair vehicle codes amended to allow pregnant women to use carpool lanes.

Currently there are High Occupancy Vehicle (carpool) lanes in Washington, D.C., and the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. To get information on your who your legislators are and how to contact them, visit Congress.com.

Check with your state or county legislature or department of transportation to find out the exact wording of the law in your area, then send letters to your lawmakers requesting specific changes in the vehicle codes. Here is an example of how the law would be amended for Arizona:

A. Except as provided in section 28-2416 and subsections B and C of this section, a person shall not drive a vehicle carrying fewer than two persons, including the driver, in a high occupancy vehicle lane at any time the use of the high occupancy vehicle lane is restricted to vehicles carrying two or more persons, including the driver.

New Law
A. Except as provided in section 28-2416 and subsections B and C of this section, a person shall not drive a vehicle carrying fewer than two persons, including the driver, in a high occupancy vehicle lane at any time the use of the high occupancy vehicle lane is restricted to vehicles carrying two or more persons, including the driver, where “person” is defined as any living individual human being including an unborn child being carried by a pregnant woman.

Sample Letter to Senator John McCain

Dear Senator McCain,

As your constituent, I would like to draw your attention to a matter that concerns me greatly: The right of pregnant women and their unborn children to ride in High Occupancy Vehicle (carpool) lanes. Current vehicle codes need to be amended so that the unborn are fairly recognized in the count of persons and passengers in a vehicle.

As you may know, Phoenix resident Candace Dickinson recently challenged this law in our home state and was defeated by a court which refused to recognize her unborn child as a passenger. Such a travesty of justice can be prevented from happening again by making a simple change to the Arizona state transportation code. I would like to propose the following simple change in the law’s language:

A. Except as provided in section 28-2416 and subsections B and C of this section, a person shall not drive a vehicle carrying fewer than two persons, including the driver, in a high occupancy vehicle lane at any time the use of the high occupancy vehicle lane is restricted to vehicles carrying two or more persons, including the driver.

New Law
B. Except as provided in section 28-2416 and subsections B and C of this section, a person shall not drive a vehicle carrying fewer than two persons, including the driver, in a high occupancy vehicle lane at any time the use of the high occupancy vehicle lane is restricted to vehicles carrying two or more persons, including the driver, where “person” is defined as any living individual human being including an unborn child being carried by a pregnant woman.

I would hope that a man of your principles would recognize this issue as highly important, both in terms of family values and good transportation policy. I encourage you to take action immediately to uphold the rights of expectant mothers and their unborn children.

Thank you for you attention to this issue. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,