To be honest, I’d never heard of Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) until I received this from another blogger in my inbox. Apparently Kratovil represents a pretty conservative (or at least Republican) district and his seat is vulnerable coming into 2010.

Anyway, Kratovil decided to piss off conservatives (and a majority of the population) by voting against the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. What did the amendment do? It banned the federal government from using taxpayer funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or instances where the mother’s life is in jeopardy. Kind of like the Hyde Amendment of 1977, but this one covered subsidized insurance premiums as well.

We’re talking about an amendment that passed so easily that even the most optimistic pro-life groups were surprised. Just about every House Republican and 64 House Democrats voted in favor of the common sense legislation supported by overwhelming majorities of the American public.

But not Frank Kratovil. He apparently decided that subsidizing abortions on demand is a good use of taxpayer funds in the middle of a recession. Seems like political suicide to me.