We hadn’t planned for a teachers’ picket line, although we knew from the newspapers that the Stockton Unified School District was on strike. As we drove up to park our car, I was filled with misgivings, expecting a verbal assault by at least a few of the twenty plus teachers who were marching in front of FREMONT JUNIOR HIGH. By the time the bell rang, most of the teachers were standing at the other end of the block. The few that were left seemed to ignore our presence, as we started handing out our literature to the kids coming out of the school and going on to the busses, which were sparsely occupied as they rolled away.

     Our next school for the day was EDISON HIGH. Apparently, most of the kids had decided to honor the strike, and we only reached a handful of teenagers.

     The teachers at the last school of the day, ST MARY’S CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL, were not on strike. We stood on both exit driveways-Tess Showalter and her children on one side and Lydia Van Steyn and I on the other-on a busy, busy street in Stockton. As driving students gradually began to leave the school, we handed them our literature packets. Most of the students accepted our literature - some refused to roll down their windows. The cars kept coming and coming. (Apparently, just about all of the students at the school drove there.) One smart aleck student on Tess’ side of the school drove by with his shirt off (the weather was cold) shouting "pro-choice epithets". A priest walked up to me, angrily confronting me, saying that now they were in danger of losing their tax exemption. I told him this was not true. Later he drove out of the driveway without a look in our direction.

     As the rush of cars gradually began to subside, a young man stopped beside me in his car (a girlfriend sitting next to him) and began a lengthy conversation. He started by complimenting us on our "bravery" and then asked questions. What seemed to be uppermost on his mind was the subject of masturbation. He gave me the viewpoint of the Catholic Church on why it was wrong-based on the sanctity of human life-and then asked for our opinion. I told him further that Jesus demands a high standard of purity from us: "IF YOU LOOK AT A WOMAN WITH LUST, YOU HAVE COMMITTED ADULTERY. . ." - that the act of masturbation is preceded by lustful thinking and that such behavior will lead to a habit which is very difficult to break. (This incident reminded me of a LIFE LINE call I received last year from a divorced man in his late forties, the father of a sixteen-year-old girl who had received our literature at school. He admitted to me, an anonymous listener, that he was a frequent masturbator. Somehow, in his twisted logic, he believed that since it was "all right to masturbate," it was all right to destroy human life in its early stages. I immediately set him straight by telling him that masturbation is a serious sin. He began to scream at me, so I hung up on him. He called back later and apologized, asking me for quotes from the Bible proving my point, which I gave to him. This man was a Christian going to a local church every Sunday and, believe it or not, was never told by anyone in his life that masturbation is wrong. Personally, I have yet to hear this serious subject discussed in any sermon.)

A Busy Day In Modesto 
"For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Psalm 91, V. 11-12)

"Beautiful, comforting words," I thought to myself as I laid down my Bible for the morning and got ready for a day at the schools.

     As I made a right turn onto Coffee Road in Modesto (from the right bicycle lane) I noticed a large truck with its right turn signal flashing just a little ahead of my station wagon, in the lane to my left. As I made the turn, my ears were suddenly assaulted by a crunching, scraping noise as the truck turned too far to the right, attacking my station wagon from one end to the other. Unhurt, I got out of my car to inspect the damage. Almost miraculously, the truck had demolished my left front fender, glided along my side doors pulling off the metal strip underneath the doors and (I knew the angels were watching over me) completely avoided the gas thank and finished off the job by damaging my left rear fender.

     After 45 minutes of talking to the police, I was on my way again, as the damage to the station wagon didn’t affect the operation of the car. Our first school for the day was BEYER HIGH. "What a beautiful setup," I thought as I parked along the wide busy street in northeast Modesto. Adjacent to the school was a city park and a pathway well traveled everyday by the students on their way to and from lunch. The younger students had their lunch break at 10:35 AM and the older ones at 11:35. We got there just in time to greet the freshmen and sophomores on their way back to school. They came in large groups, strolling casually back to the high school through the city park. "SAVE THIS LITERATURE FOR A PREGNANT GIRL," I told them as I handed out our packets. "YOU MAY SAVE A BABY." I was a little surprised at the looks I was getting (this was a new approach I was trying) from most of the students. They immediately understood what I meant. Some of them even gave me an understanding smile. "WE’RE HERE TO SAVE BABIES TODAY," I commented more than once to the students as they kept coming and coming.

     When we were almost through, a young girl approached me, and with a lot of emotion told me how happy she was that we were there. "ALL OF MY FRIENDS ARE ‘PRO-CHOICE’" she said, "AND IT GETS HARDER AND HARDER TO TAKE A STAND," "YOU KNOW," I answered, "WHEN YOU HAVE GOD ON YOUR SIDE, YOU AND HE ARE A MAJORITY," She told me that her feelings were so intense about abortion that she had written a poem about it. Right after she had written it, her girlfriend called her to tell her that she had had an abortion. "I WANT TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP," she announced. "DO YOU WANT TO HELP US TODAY?" I asked. "WE’RE GOING TO THREE MORE SCHOOLS." She said she would try to be there as we finally left to go on with our work. Later in the day she was true to her word. She stood there helping us, even experiencing some harassment when a teacher told her to move away from the front of the school.

     We were distributing literature at ROOSEVELT JUNIOR HIGH (after having first leafleted cars at MODESTO JUNIOR COLLEGE), and after we had distributed several hundred packets, we were verbally attacked by three teachers who told us to get off "school property." I handed one teacher the material from the Attorney General’s office which clearly indicates our Constitutional rights to distribute literature on the public sidewalk adjacent to the school. Our last school of the day was MODESTO HIGH. We arrived a little late (because of all the time we had spent at ROOSEVELT JUNIOR HIGH) but were encouraged by the fact that several hundred students were still waiting for busses. Each student was handed a packet of literature.

Larry, Virginia and I distributed literature for the first time at STANISLAUS UNIVERSITY in the small community of Turlock south of Modesto. We managed to leaflet at least 600 cars that day, walking around in the warm sun for at least an hour.

     The following day we got a call from "Security." : "Your literature is all over our campus," he began. He agreed that we had a right to distribute literature but kept insisting that we conform to the rule established by the school. Having had many conversations of a similar nature with college security, I just listened to him and thought to myself: "Okay, but we’ll be back next year.’

We stood in front of ALAMEDA HIGH SCHOOL-Flo Clegg, Mary Carter and I-at the school lunch break. (Alameda is an island city predominately residential - linked by a series of small bridges and an underwater tunnel to its neighbor, Oakland). As we started distributing literature, I noticed scads of kids going out a side exit. After the students had stopped coming out, we got into our car and stood at the side exit waiting for the students to return from their lunch break. Some of the kids were loud and disrespectful. One of the boys, walking with about three of his friends - tall, with a manly build - made a dirty remark about God. I called after him telling him to ask forgiveness fore this blasphemy. He yelled something unintelligible as the whole group of them walked away, laughing.

     Later, a middle-aged vice principal came out. I immediately showed him the article from LAW IN THE SCHOOL giving our legal rights about distributing literature. He read it through and then asked us whether we intended to come back the next day. I told him “no” and continued to distribute literature as we talked to him. A few minutes later a woman teacher in her early thirties (obviously a libber type) read it and then asked if we wanted to talk about it inside the school. I said there was nothing to talk about. I told her to call the Attorney General’s office and ask him if we had a right to be there. She then demanded that we stop, and I said that we didn’t have to stop. (I knew I was on very solid legal ground with the information from the Attorney General’s office.) Then as we were returning to our car, she copied down our license plate number. Mary Carter told her not to bother because it wouldn’t do her any good. She said that others had tried before her.

The minute I turned into the parking lot of OHLONE COLLEGE in Fremont I was a little nervous, as I spotted a security guard in a patrol car pulling into the driveway. I thought he would finish his patrolling and move on to the next area, but for some unknown reason, he kept driving back and forth, back and forth on the same route. For quite a while, he seemed to be oblivious to our presence there. I kept my eye out for him as I kept putting literature under windshield wipers. We managed to leaflet several aisles of cars-Mary, Virginia, Larry and I-when a woman security guard began patrolling the area on foot, checking the parked cars for violations. At that point, we decided to leave. As we were getting into our car, we could see the man in the patrol car finally getting out and checking out our literature. He was "hot on our heels" as we left the parking lot and almost caught up with us as I made a right turn on Mission Blvd., out of his jurisdiction.

     The next school we leafleted that day was HOPKINS JUNIOR HIGH. As we were in a hurry to get to MISSION HIGH SCHOOL, we jumped into our stationwagon and started to make a left turn in front of the school. As we drove up to the corner, a woman teacher from HOPKINS started to yell into our car windows demanding that we give her our names! which we refused. "OH, OH" I said to myself, "SHE’LL PROBABLY GET OUR LICENSE PLATE NUMBER."

     The next day my doorbell rang. I looked out the window of my Modesto home and saw a police car parked in front. "ARE YOU MARIAN BANDUCCI?" the policeman asked as I opened the front door. (They had obviously gotten my name and address from my license plate number.) "YES," I answered. "WELL, I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOU FROM THE FREMONT POLICE DEPARTMENT," he said as he handed me a slip of paper. I made it very clear to the officer that it was embarrassing to me for him to be driving up to my door and that it was totally unnecessary and a form of harassment. I told him about our work at the schools and that it was perfectly legal. "THE PEOPLE WHO ARE PR0-ABORTION ARE CAUSING TROUBLE FOR US," I said. "LOOK, LADY," he answered, throwing his arms in the air. "I’M JUST A MESSENGER."

     A few minutes later I called the name and phone number on the note I was handed and reached an officer named "TOM SANA." It was obvious to me that Officer Sana was pro-abortion to the core. (I suspected he may have been a friend or husband of a mother or teacher at HOPKINS JUNIOR HIGH and that his whole purpose was to harass and try to buffalo us.) "YOU’VE GOT NO RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE SCHOOL," he said to me. "LISTEN," I told him, "ISN’T IT TRUE THAT WE HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE ON THE PUBLIC SIDEWALK?" "YES, THAT’S TRUE, BUT YOU HAVE TO ASK PERMISSION," he added. "IF WE ASK PERMISSION," I answered, "THAT MEANS THE PERSON I’M TALKING TO HAS THE RIGHT OF REFUSAL, DOESN’T IT? DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?" "¯ES, IT DOES," he answered. "IF YOU DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE AGAIN, I’LL CALL THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE AND HAVE THEM FILE A COMPLAINT AGAINST YOU." I went on to explain to him that various school districts had challenged us, but in the final analysis, they had to admit we had a free Constitutional right to distribute literature on the public sidewalk adjacent to the school, without any requirement to ask permission. (I referred him to the pamphlet entitled LAW IN THE SCHOOL, CALIFORNIA DEPT. OF JUSTICE, ATTORNEY GENERAL, which clearly spells out our legal rights to distribute literature on the public sidewalks adjacent to the school and suggested he call the Attorney General’s office.) After a minute or two of more pointless discussion with the man, I told him that I had had enough and that "I AM GOING TO END THIS WHOLE MATTER BY HANGING UP."

     We had planned to go to the Richmond schools that week, but then decided to change our plans because the roads were bad. We substituted three schools in the small city of Turlock located about 20 minutes south of Modesto. I was hoping for less resistance here on the part of the teachers (since Turlock is a small community) but my hopes were never realized. Both the junior high and high school had the same dismissal time, but since they were just a few blocks apart, we decided to go the junior high school first and then scamper over to the high school. After distributing the literature, I crossed the street and noticed out of the corner of my eye a man dressed in a white shirt with the unmistakable look of a school official. I tried to ignore him, but he caught up with me as I was about to open the door of my car. He was unnecessarily rude as I tried to tell him to call the Attorney General’s office in Sacramento to get the right information on our rights to distribute literature. As I was in a big rush to reach TURLOCK HIGH, I told him I was in a hurry. I left with his parting threat of "PUTTING ME IN JAIL IF I SHOULD EVER DARE TO RETURN."

     TURLOCK HIGH was troublefree. We reached more students than we had hoped for as they were lining up waiting for the busses which hadn’t yet arrived. The last school of the day was TURLOCK CHRISTIAN HIGH. The day before I had called the operator to get the phone numbers for the junior and senior Turlock schools, and the operator made a mistake and gave me the number of TURLOCK CHRISTIAN instead of one of the two public schools. We finally found the school after some difficulty and parked our car next to the school just a few feet away from a large church on the corner, obviously affiliated with the school. We didn’t reach many students as only a few of them seemed to be leaving at that time and those we did reach were driving out of the driveway. A teacher, a male in his early thirties, came out to confront us: "YOUR LITERATURE IS REALLY DISGUSTING TO ME," he began. "I JUST LOST ONE A FEW WEEKS AGO." "I’M SORRY TO HEAR THAT," I immediately replied. "HIS ATTITUDE IS NOT THE ATTITUDE OF A PRO-LIFER," I thought as he began to insist with an unpleasant face that we needed the permission of the school to distribute literature. I immediately whipped out my information from the Attorney General’s office which spelled out our legal rights to distribute literature on the sidewalk. After he had read it, he went back into the school, still insisting that we needed permission.

     A few days later I received a call from a man (a young voice) representing a Christian youth group. He immediately launched into a criticism of our distribution of literature at TURLOCK JUNIOR HIGH. He said the principal had decided not to allow his group on the campus now because of what we did. "THAT’S IDIOTIC," I replied. "WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES OUR DISTRIBUTION OF LITERATURE HAVE TO DO WITH YOU?" "PARENTS HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING, AND PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THIS," he answered. "I’LL BET THAT PUMPS YOU UP, DOESN’T IT?" he exclaimed sarcastically. "YES, IT DOES," I replied. "IF THE MATERIAL WERE INNOCUOUS, NOBODY WOULD COMPLAIN ABOUT IT. IT IS LIKE THE TWO-EDGED SWORD IN THE BIBLE - IT’S POWERFUL! OUR LITERATURE NOT ONLY SPEAKS ABOUT ABORTION, IT SPREADS THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. ABORTION OPENS THE DOOR TO THE GOSPEL IN A WAY YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE." "I CAN BELIEVE IT," he said. "BUT YOU’RE JUST GIVING THIS ONE SHOT AND THEN YOU LEAVE." he said angrily "YES, BUT WE REACH ABOUT 150 SCHOOLS A YEAR THIS WAY." "AT WHAT AGE DO YOU THINK IT IS APPROPRIATE TO DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE?" - he was talking about the Knights of Columbus flyer with the aborted baby at the bottom of a hospital bucket. "AT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL," I replied. "DO YOU REALIZE THEY ARE HAVING ABORTIONS, ARE EVEN INTO DEVIL WORSHIP. ARE YOU AWARE OF WHAT KIND OF WORLD WE ARE LIVING IN?" He said he was. He began insisting again that we should ask permission. "DID THE APOSTLE PAUL ASK PERMISSION BEFORE HE SPREAD THE GOSPEL?" I asked. He had to admit that he didn’t. "SO YOU DON’T FEEL GUILTY OVER THE TROUBLE YOU CAUSED US?" he asked, in an accusatory tone. "NO, I DON’T FEEL GUILTY. THE DEVIL IS AT WORK IN MANY WAYS TO STOP US. WE ARE FIGHTING A WAR AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE. IF THE PRINCIPAL OF THE SCHOOL IS A GODLESS MAN (HE SAID HE WASN’T GODLESS) WHO IS PUNISHING YOU FOR SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T DO, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR MINISTRY." "YOU’VE GOT ALL THE ANSWERS, HAVEN’T YOU?" he said. "YES, I HAVE. I’VE BEEN DOING THIS LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS. THE FACT THAT YOU ARE CALLING US TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR MINISTRY MAKES ME DOUBT YOUR SINCERITY. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT YOUR MINISTRY. IF YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED IN THE SCHOOL, TRY TALKING TO THE KIDS ON THE SIDEWALKS. YOU CAN REACH MORE STUDENTS THIS WAY." (Later I wondered at what kind of watered-down message he was giving in order to be allowed on the campus.)

     An hour later I received another telephone call from a Turlock Christian. He said he just wanted information. (It was very obvious to me that he was associated with the man who had called previously.) I went over the same ground that I had traveled with the other man, but something else was added to our conversation. It was the subject of BIRTH CONTROL. He brought it up by giving me an example of a girl who had had an abortion and had then gotten married to the father of the aborted baby. As he expressed it, "THIS GIRL DIDN’T BELIEVE IN BIRTH CONTROL BECAUSE SHE WAS A CATHOLIC AND THEN GOT PREGNANT AGAIN AS SOON AS SHE WAS MARRIED." He was obviously criticizing her for having the baby instead of practicing birth control. I told this caller that artificial birth control is morally wrong. He wanted Biblical evidence. I then referred him to Genesis, Chap. 38, V. 9-10 - THE SIN OF ONAN - and God’s admonition to Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. I informed him that since 1930 (Lambeth Conference) the Protestant churches had started to believe in and practice artificial birth control for the first time. Before that time they considered it to be morally evil. NOW WE ARE LIVING IN A WORLD WHERE THE MOSLEMS ARE GROWING FASTER THAN CHRISTIANS OR ANY OTHER RELIGION BECAUSE THEY ARE HAVING CHILDREN AND THE CHRISTIANS ARE PRACTICING BIRTH CONTROL!!

     During the course of our conversation, this young man told me that he was married and that he and his wife had one child and that she was trying to stay home. He said they didn’t have enough money to have another baby. "IT IS WRONG TO PRACTICE ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL," I told him. "EVERY SEXUAL ACT DURING A MARRIAGE SHOULD BE OPEN TO THE TRANSMISSION OF HUMAN LIFE," I told him about Natural Family Planning where self-control is emphasized. He replied that God wanted us to use our brain and not have children we couldn’t afford. "WHERE IS YOUR FAITH??" I challenged him. I went on to tell him that I had never practiced artificial birth control and had six beautiful children and wanted more. "I STAYED HOME WITH THOSE CHILDREN AND GOD PROVIDED OUR BASIC NEEDS. WE DIDN’T HAVE ANY EXTRA MONEY, BUT WE SURVIVED, AND I KNOW THE STRUGGLE WAS GOOD FOR US (IT MADE ME STRONGER SPIRTUALLY). THE CHILDREN WERE NEVER SPOILED." I told him about the IUD and the PILL being abortifacient. He said, "THAT’S YOUR OPINION." I replied that it was not just my opinion and that I would provide him documentation. He didn’t ask for it. As we hung up, he wanted to know if he could be placed on our mailing list. (I saw this as an opportunity to send him the information he needed on birth control and mailed him several articles.)