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President Obama urged the sides in the abortion debate to open their hearts and minds to a fair-minded discussion of the issue as he addressed University of Notre Dame graduates and their families.

For Maryland, that debate could be a long time coming. With abortion opponents outnumbered and a 1992 referendum on abortion rights showing nearly 2-to-1 support, pro-choice supporters have little reason to engage their pro-life counterparts.

Voters have elected pro-choice governors and the majority of the General Assembly supports a woman's right to choose.

"I think those that advocate for abortion seem to have a lot of power in this administration and in this legislature. The arguments haven't changed, but when they oppose a bill, it doesn't seem to go very far," said Angela Martin, executive director of Maryland Right to Life.

Jennifer Blasdell, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, said the two sides on the issue can find common ground.

"We'd love to see them work with us in preventing unintended pregnancies," Blasdell said in an interview.

But if one side wields greater power in Annapolis, Blasdell said the last major piece of pro-choice legislation was more than 10 years ago — a 1998 law that required all prescription providers to offer contraceptives. She also pointed out that Maryland ranks 28th — in the bottom half of states — in access to family planning services.

Though they profess a desire to collaborate, the sides clash each year in the General Assembly. In February, a bill requiring parents to offer their consent before a minor got a tattoo morphed into a debate over the state's parental notification law.

Maryland requires a physician providing abortions to notify a minor's parents, but abortion opponents object to the loopholes contained in the law.

Also this year, legislation that would give health care providers the option of offering a sonogram before an abortion died in committee. Opponents saw it as an attempt to make a woman feel guilty before the painful decision to have an abortion.

In 2008, lawmakers debated, and killed, a bill requiring crisis pregnancy centers to provide disclaimers on the information they offer. Supporters had a study that questioned some of the assertions claimed inside the centers. Opponents argued that any bad information was not widespread.

"Our goal is to protect all human life. I see no reason why we can't work together on such things as a real parental notification bill or bills to provide help for women who choose to carry their pregnancy to term," Martin said. "If there's a lack of working together, it's not for lack of trying."

But the sides have differing vocabularies. Blasdell's group talks of preventing unwanted pregnancies, possibly through greater access to contraception. Martin's group works to help pregnant women.

"It's an issue that takes a lot of people to solve and a lot of commitment, and there's a lot of space for a lot of groups," Blasdell said.

The failure of the sides to conduct their own fair-minded debate means lawmakers should step in, said Sen. Thomas McLain Middleton (D-Dist. 28) of Waldorf. He chairs the Finance Committee, which hears many abortion issues.

"If we're going to talk about ideology, we'll never find any common ground," Middleton said, recalling a tough campaign in 1998 that centered on abortion.

He opposed the sonogram legislation, viewing it as an attempt to guilt a woman out of an abortion.

"It chips away at those abortion rights that women have. You can't be half pregnant on this issue," he said. He suggested that supporters, who want to reintroduce the measure next year, talk to the other members in his committee.

Middleton said he would support assistance to pregnant women, like the Maryland Children's Health Insurance Program, or mentoring efforts for teenage mothers.

Any debate must take Maryland's abortion rate into account, said Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference. According to the Guttmacher Institute, which was founded by Planned Parenthood, 29 percent of pregnancies in the state are ended by induced abortions. Nationwide, the rate was 19 percent.

The rates, she said, are the result of Maryland's permissive abortion law.

"My point is that's an area where there ought to be real consensus," Russell said. "When a woman is facing a crisis pregnancy, she shouldn't have to choose an abortion because she has no other alternative."

Still, if the sides in the debate lack anything, it's trust.

"I think it's going to take more trust on both sides than has been exhibited in the past," Russell said.

"I think it would take a courageous leader in the legislature to step forward and say, ‘I want to see progress.' And be ready to withstand the attacks that may come from either side."