It was a titanic struggle under a scorching sun. The players, now bathed in perspiration, gave it their all. Suddenly the whistle was heard. The game was over. Manchester defeated Aberdeen by a score of 1 to 0. The matter was settled and recorded for posterity. It would always be 1 to 0. No groaning or dissatisfaction could ever alter the score.

Some matters are settled; others never are. “The abortion issue is not settled,” writes Kathryn Jean Lopez, “because our hearts are not settled.” She is speaking not only for herself, but for all those who are genuinely pro-life. No whistle can be blown or gavel struck to indicate that the abortion issue is settled.

In The Managed Heart (1983), Arlie Russell Hochschild, professor emerita of sociology at Berkeley, discusses the commodification of emotions in the workplace. She defines “emotional labor” as the process by which workers manage their emotions to meet the emotional requirements of their jobs. At Delta Airlines, for example, flight attendants are taught to view their smiles as their “biggest asset,” to exude warmth and convey reassurance when dealing with passengers regardless of how they are really feeling at the moment.

To what extent can the heart be managed? Can a fake smile replace the heart’s original impulse? Can the human heart be commodified? Can a person be truly heartless? History has shown conclusively that such conditions as incarceration, slavery, oppression, and hatred can indeed have such dire consequences. The commodification of the heart is the death of morality. Frankenstein’s monster does not have a heart. That is why he is a monster.

The heart is the center for numerous feelings that we all experience from time to time. With respect to love, it can ache, break, or be divided. The heart has weight: It can be lighthearted or heavyhearted. Temperature: It can be warm- or cold-hearted. Moral sense: It responds positively to what is good, negatively to what is bad. Flexibility: It can be kind- or hardhearted. The heart is restless in the Augustinian sense because it longs for God. But it is “unsettled” when it is aroused by an injustice that remains unexpiated. Herein lies the particular strength of the heart that characterizes pro-life advocates.

The heart possesses a reliability that is greater than that of the mind, which can easily be tricked. “The battle line between good and evil,” writes Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, “runs through the heart of every human being.” “It is only with the heart,” adds Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” “The heart has its reasons,” Pascal famously stated, “of which reason knows nothing.”

Abortion advocates would like to see the abortion issue settled. But they want it settled politically. They do not know the strength their adversary has in the human heart. The abortion issue will not be truly settled until the heart is settled.

Much ink has been spilled over the abortion issue without giving due credit to the wisdom of the heart. In 1950, when the threat of atomic warfare loomed, William Faulkner, the Nobel Laureate in Literature, gave a memorable acceptance speech in which he attempted to reassure the world that “man will not merely endure; he will prevail.” Faulkner stressed that the duty of the writer was “to help man” by “lifting his heart.” And from that elevated heart would flow “courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice, which have been the glory of his past.”

We may no longer fear imminent destruction from the atomic bomb, however today we have reason to fear that the dignity of man, and the sacredness of human life, are under threat. This threat is enough to arouse the heart. We need another William Faulkner to remind us of the heart’s power: That it stands as a sentinel and a protector. And a bulwark against moral calamity.

A mother confesses: “To me the most beautiful thing is the smile of unweaned babies during their sleep. Can it be surpassed by anything in beauty? Not for me.” The babies’ smile is the language of the heart, unmediated by words. It cannot be refuted. God creates nature, and our heart rejoices witnessing its beauty. There is, in this instance, no need for verbal language. God speaks to us, and we respond heart to heart. This is the natural way in which human beings rejoice in each other’s presence.

In 1897, Saint John Henry Newman adopted the phrase Cor ad cor loquitur (heart speaking to heart) as his episcopal motto. The phrase comes from the writings of St. Francis de Sales and refers to an empathic relationship between two souls that has no need of logic. The abortion issue remains unsettled because it has disrupted the natural, heart-to-heart relationship that exists between human beings. The answer to the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper,” is a resounding “Yes,” spoken from the heart. The abortion issue will be settled only when hearts speak to hearts.