'Both hearts and laws must be changed'

Fr. Frank Pavone writes:

Some people say that the solution to the abortion problem is to change people's hearts.

In fact, changing people's hearts is the solution to every problem that the world faces.

But that doesn't mean that we don't have laws. The fact is that while there are people around whose hearts are not in the right place, there have to be laws to restrain their heartless activities. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, the law cannot get the white man to love me, but it can stop him from lynching me.

We also should not overlook the power that laws have to shape minds and hearts. When our children learn in school that something is legal, they are learning that such a thing is right.

Whether regarding abortion or anything else, both hearts and laws must be changed.