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 N.J. trucks drive home anti-abortion  message

When Bill Calvin takes his truck with the shocking pictures of aborted babies out on the New Jersey roadways, he does one of three things:

He hits the New Jersey Turnpike, other highways and the shopping malls during rush hour.

On warm days, he drives slowly along downtown streets so pedestrians can get a good look at the graphic photos.

And he circles area high schools when students are coming in or out.

"I love going to the high schools," says Calvin. "They're the most powerful place to go, because the appropriate response [to the pictures] is dismay, and that's what we get at high schools.

"The typical response is, 'Oh, my God, it's a baby!'"

Calvin, who is regional director for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform's Northeast Office, says his New Jersey-based office decided to focus its truck-driving campaign in Bergen County, the most populous part of the state.

At the county's high schools, he typically drives slowly around the school ten times.

The truck's message is reinforced by youthful volunteers who stand outside with GAP (CBR's Genocide Awareness Project) signs and anti-abortion literature.

He remembers driving down a busy street leading to Clifton High School one day, when "Every girl I saw was either looking sad or wiping a tear from her eye."

They were reacting to the information given out by volunteers from Mary Help of Christians, a near­by Catholic girls' high school.

"One boy said he only took the literature from me because I was cute!" a pretty volunteer told Calvin.

"That's why you're here!" Bill joked.

Not all students react so positively. At Teaneck High School, as Bill circled the campus repeatedly, one young man ran around and around the school, "so he could make obscene gestures at us 20 times. It was kind of funny!"

Bill fondly recalls the time the police stopped the truck in front of Hackensack High School.

"They didn't understand our free speech rights," he says.

Bill showed them a copy of the letter the office's attorney had written to the police chief explaining those rights.

"It took 15 minutes; in the meantime, our truck was getting maximum exposure with the students!" .

Calvin and his band of New Jersey volunteer drivers kicked off their truck project in April, crossing the Hudson River to join Priests for Life's 10-day Face the Truth Tour in New York City.

In early May they and some of Mark Harrington's staff drove two trucks in Birmingham, Ala., in sup­port of a three-day African-American pro-life march sponsored by the Rev. Johnny Hunter's Life Education and Resource Network.

They spent the following week in Atlanta, driving down the broad expanse of Peachtree Street and other city streets and touring the high schools.

Bill and his wife have been active in the pro-life movement since 1967 when, as Young Republicans in Missouri, they fought a bill to legalize abortion.

They started a crisis pregnancy center in 1985 and took part in Operation Rescue.

Bill is president of LifeNet in his area.

"Last year we spoke to 15,000 people. But our message is often muted by the sponsoring group," who may object to the showing of graphic pictures of abortion.

The trucks, with their powerful message, break through the censoring, he says.

"The phone number for CBR and our website address are on the truck. We know we save lives because of the responses we get in our e-mail.

"To me, the trucks are a foundational, educational thing to make all the other elements in the pro-life movement successful.

"They are a force multiplier, enabling us to reach so many more people."

Bill says he would love to bring his truck to Baltimore. To do so, he would need a secure place to park the truck and places to stay for himself and the five or six other drivers.

And financial support is always welcome.

"I've put $150 worth of diesel fuel in the truck at one filling!" he points out.