After a long wait, Republicans began this week to name the programs they intend to de-fund, at least as starters for deeper cuts anticipated, to reduce the deficit.

Do you think they attacked the bloated Defense Department budget that spends about half of the money annually spent on defense in the world? Nope. That budget actually increased.

Maybe they cut their own budget as a symbolic gesture to a stark limit while cutting other programs? Nope, unless you think 2 percent a meaningful reduction.

But what they did propose cutting results in little less than an attack on American women, and young mothers in particular.

First they proposed last week to end, by a thousand cuts, the constitutional right to access to abortion. The approach this time is to pass a law to protect providers from refusing to offer abortion as a life saving measure for a woman. Yes, this law would permit medical providers to refuse to save the life of a woman who would die without an abortion.

They followed that death wish with cuts to WIC which provides aid to pregnant women and their new born babies. WIC provides healthy food, referrals to other services, advice on breast feeding and immunization among other services.

Republicans then proposed ending family planning programs; programs that provide contraception and cancer screenings and that do not provide abortion funding. Being anti-abortion to save the life of mothers and anti-contraception certainly demonstrates callousness towards those with a uterus.

Not certain that enough damage would be done to women, Republicans then cut Community Development Programs, programs aimed to help the poor and to aid in lifting the poor out of poverty. The highest rate of poverty in America is comprised of single women heading families. 29.9 percent of such families live in poverty.

Republicans also favor cutting funding to supplement the costs of training and education, although education is the single most effective factor in escaping poverty.

A person with a high school education can anticipate earning $1.2 million dollars over their lifetime. But with a college degree lifetime earnings average $2.1 million.

And while food budgets for single parents families are often impacted by limited resources, Republicans would cut federal food safety inspections as well, leaving families to hope for safe food supplies.

This after Cargill beef reached our schools contaminated with salmonella and peanut butter poisoned our children and e-coli were found in Nestle cookie batter.

But these attacks are only part of the Republican attack on women. On separate fronts Michelle Obama’s healthy eating program for children has been attacked as a “nanny state” solution to childhood obesity. But the connection between obesity and education deficits has been established.

And of course Republicans attack the uteruses of illegal immigrants, claiming these births to be “anchor babies” born only to offer citizenship to their otherwise illegal parents. Of course for that to work the child would have to be 21 to sponsor their parents and their parents would have to leave the U.S. for 10 years, a 31 year project.

Finally, though they have not yet attacked Medicaid, we can consider with near certainty that single mothers relying on Medicaid for the health care of their children will find Republicans claiming we cannot afford such extravagant care. Cuts must be made in this crucial program.

We can afford any defense spending…we can afford cutting taxes to the lowest rates since 1950…but we cannot afford helping our daughters, our mothers, or our children in need. Women are under attack.

The Republicans are back in town.

Jim Crawford is a contributing columnist for The Tribune and a former educator at Ohio University Southern.