The short answer to this is to relegate our opinion to just that, an opinion, and acknowledge there are diverse and opposing opinions within the world that should be respected.

The real answer, in my opinion, is that 40 years later, this should not be a discussion that has the amount of time and energy given to it. There are legislatures that cannot pass budgets that adequately fund public education, health and welfare but have the time to debate laws that have been in effect for 40 years. We have crippling debt from war and we are one of the few, if not only, industrialized countries that still has the death penalty. Just last week, a Catholic nonprofit in Colorado went to court defending itself in a lawsuit putting forth the view that unborn fetuses are not people and, therefore, they can’t be sued for their deaths — the same organization that on moralistic terms would save money by refusing birth control in their health coverage.      

What all of us must do is put away the ‘black and white’ thinking that “I’m right and there is no room for discussion.” Unfortunately, or fortunately, this country does allow free speech and that sometimes opens to passionate public discourse which changes the course of history.

This is a free country. We have the right to move from an area that is ultraconservative to an area of the country where a women’s right of choice is accepted. When anyone feels deeply that something is morally wrong, there will seldom be a “respectful and productive dialogue.” What is possible is to keep the dialogue open, and in the case of legislatures, make sure the business at hand of running the government is done before the debate is again taken up in the state houses.