At a public forum in the suburb of Summit last month, Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski went on the record in support of comprehensive health care reform, including a public option to compete against private insurance companies. Given that House Blue Dogs could make-or-break the Obama administration's reform efforts, it was encouraging to hear an unequivocal endorsement of Obama's broad approach from one of the area's more conservative Democrats.

But Lipinksi's vote isn't yet secured. FireDogLake tracked down Lipinski on Capitol Hill and asked whether he would back a bill that funds abortion. Here's his answer:

LIPINSKI: I strongly oppose any bill that's going to have public funding for abortion. The American people certainly don't want that.

It's worth noting that none of the health reform bills in Congress currently threaten the Hyde Amendment, which forbids Medicaid from using any federal money to pay for an abortion procedure. President Obama himself affirmed this fact in an interview with Katie Couric, saying that "we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care."

But let's be clear: the American people already fund abortion services. As Dana Goldstein astutely notes, 87 percent of existing private health insurance plans offer some abortion coverage. "That means you're already subsidizing other people's abortions," she adds, "through your employee contribution and co-pays."

Those services could be endangered if 19 House members -- including Illinois' own Rep. Jerry Costello (D) -- get their way. Last month, those lawmakers sent a letter (PDF) to Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushing for language to prevent any federal funds in a health care reform bill from being used for abortions. Such a move could actually override the Hyde amendment itself, according to Time's Karen Tumulty, because any government subsidies could not be used on private plans that cover such services.

And with the stakes of health reform so high, it's frustrating that Lipinski would quickly derail legislation providing access to millions of Americans because of one policy disagreement over reproductive rights.

Two other suburban Democrats remain on the fence as well. Last week, the Daily Herald got statements from Reps. Melissa Bean and Dan Lipinski on the issue. The former, while supportive of the party's aim, says she "remains unconvinced that the bill as written measurably reduces increasing health care costs for American families, businesses and our government while protecting the quality of their care." Foster, meanwhile, comments through a spokesperson that he "wants to evaluate how [a public option] is actually going to be set up" before committing.

Some Democrats are standing strong, however. On Friday, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and seven other members of the Progressive Caucus wrote their own letter alerting Pelosi that their 80 member coalition "cannot tolerate further weakening of the public option." Read it here, courtesy of Talking Points Memo.