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Ever since the Republicans took over the House, several bills have been introduced that would restrict most women’s access to abortions, a procedure that has been legal for almost 40 years. Two bills, HR 3 and HR 358, reduce or eliminate access to abortion for unplanned pregnancies for middle class, poor, disabled and minority women. They are thinly veiled efforts to whittle away Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. What’s more, they endanger women’s lives.

The HR 3 bill, named No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, is “the most dangerous legislative assault on women’s health,” according to Planned Parenthood. It specifically targets a woman’s legal right to a safe abortion under the guise that people don’t want their tax dollars to fund abortions – a critical concern voiced by the majority of Americans, claims House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Its sponsor, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., claimed HR 3 would stop the use of tax dollars to “pay for, subsidize, encourage, or facilitate abortions.”

Not true. Currently, the yearly renewed Hyde Act already prohibits federal funding of abortions and has done so for the last 30 years, according to Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. The act contains narrowly defined exceptions for Medicaid-insured women whose pregnancies resulted from rape, incest or are life-threatening. HR 3 would make these exceptions permanent. Therefore, federal funds would continue to cover abortions.

HR 3 won’t cut costs, it will ultimately cost taxpayers much more, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Forcing a low-income, Medicaid-insured woman to carry an unintended pregnancy to full-term costs Americans thousands of dollars per child in pre-natal, birthing and child health care.

What is of even greater concern is the HR 3 bill would also remove tax breaks for small businesses and individuals who pay out-of-pocket for health insurance that covers abortions, even if they don’t use the service. Numerous critics, including the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, argue the provision would completely undermine a woman’s right to a legal abortion.

NARAL predicts that most small businesses and individuals can’t afford to lose their tax breaks on health insurance and will be forced to choose insurance plans that don’t cover abortions. Hence, a woman’s access to a safe abortion plummets if she can’t afford one without financial assistance.

Last but not least, is HR 358, the Protect Life Act sponsored by Rep. Joe Tripp, R-P.A. The bill’s most egregious stipulation allows hospitals to refuse treatment, even in a case where a women’s life is in danger and an emergency abortion is essential to her survival, according to Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood.

This bill is unconscionable. Richards said it circumvents the Hippocratic oath that physicians adhere to and threatens the lives of women who live in a remote or low-income community where few or no other healthcare facilities exist.

HR 3 and HR 358 place blockades between most women and their legal right to an abortion. The bills must be recognized for what they are: an attack on American women and their right to the very personal choice of when and if a pregnancy should be carried full term.

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