In the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision, Gonzales v. Carhart, many state legislatures are taking measure to restrict abortions. From the inappropriately named blog Reality Check:

In its most direct effect, the Court’s decision to uphold the Federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 set a major precedent that state legislators seem to be following. Twenty-three bills banning “partial-birth” abortion have been introduced in 11 states so far this year. In four states (Alaska, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin), the measures have passed one house of the legislature and are pending in the second chamber. A fifth measure has been approved by the legislature in Arizona. (It was vetoed by Gov. Janet Napolitano [D] in April).

Almost all of the states in which legislation has been proposed already have adopted a ban that has been enjoined and so is not in effect (see Bans on “Partial-Birth” Abortion). Some of pending measures attempt to modify these enjoined laws while others seek to enact a whole new law; in either case, these bills are drawing upon language from the federal ban in hopes that that they will pass constitutional muster.

While this is very good news, the reality is that we need to change people’s hearts. Slavery was accepted by virtually every society on earth since human beginnings. No one ever imagined a world without slavery. Can you imagine a world without abortion? God worked through William Wilberforce to change people’s hearts in Great Britain. Parliament eliminated slavery not because of appointed judges or politicians going against the will of the people, but because the will of the people had changed due to Wilberforce and others. The people of Great Britain went from supporting slavery to finding it an abhorrent practice within a 30-year period.

Few people realize this, but slavery existed in the north until the end of the Civil War, though it was not nearly as common as it was in the south due to the differing economies. At that time, the north was the Bible belt. It was Christians changing the hearts of people who ended slavery. By the begining of the Civil War, slavery was on the wane and public opinion against it was growing in the upper south.

While it would be nice to have judges who would knock down the intellectual travesty that is Roe v. Wade, the only way that we’re ever going to end abortion or make it very rare is for us to change the hearts of people. Christ said that we are to be the salt and the light of the earth. Salt changes the flavor of food and light drives away the darkness. We need to change the world in which we live, not let it change us.