American Notes CALIFORNIA

Sue Ann Yasger was cruising past other cars on a crowded Southern California freeway when a highway patrolman pulled her over. The special car-pool lane in which she was driving, the officer explained to her, was reserved for autos with more than one passenger. Yasger, 29, insisted she was not alone: she was five months pregnant. The patrolman handed her a $52 ticket.

Last week a municipal judge in Santa Ana dismissed the ticket after Yasger, now eight months pregnant, reminded the court that California's child-support law considers a fetus to be a child. She cited the case of Pamela Rae Stewart, a San Diego mother accused of harming her unborn son by taking illegal drugs and ignoring her doctor's instructions. Judge Randell Wilkinson threw out the * ticket rather than rule on the legal status of a fetus. Yasger, who has two other children, felt vindicated. "I was very serious about it," she said, "but I definitely can see the humor." Nonetheless the California Highway Patrol will continue to write similar tickets. Says Officer Paul Caldwell: "Our officers are not qualified to determine whether a lady is with child."