Lawmakers and politicians scrambled Monday to respond to a growing furor over the Obama administration's decision to require no-cost contraceptive insurance coverage — even in policies offered by religious employers.

Over the weekend hundreds of thousands of Catholics, including many in the Kansas City area, heard church leaders denounce the plan revealed in late January by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the former Kansas governor.

Catholic leaders complained that the rule would force them to subsidize medical procedures to which they morally object.

“Unless this rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences or drop health care coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so),” according to a letter from Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

He and other church prelates asked that the message be read from pulpits over the weekend.

“We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law,” Naumann’s letter stated.

A similar letter from Bishop Robert Finn of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph urged congregants to call Congress about the issue. Religious organizations have until August 2013 to comply.

“We need the vigorous help of the lay faithful to reverse this action which affects the Church, business owners, and all employees needing health care benefits,” Finn’s letter stated.

The administration’s proposal would not directly require religious groups to provide contraceptives. Rather, it requires insurers — even those covering workers at religious organizations such as colleges and hospitals — to pay for contraceptives without co-pays or deductibles.

But in a column published Monday in USA Today, Sebelius defended the contraceptive coverage requirement as a “balance” between the rights of religious employers and the health care needs of their workers.

“The public health case for making sure insurance covers contraception is clear,” the Democrat wrote.

Republicans continued their attack on the proposal, calling it a threat to religious liberty.

“The Obama administration’s recent decision is offensive to Americans’ religious rights and freedoms,” said U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican.

Some Democrats also oppose the measure. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin called the mandate “un-American” in a letter Friday.

But Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who’s Catholic, said the requirement could protect women’s health.

“This is an emotional, difficult subject. It’s always one that’s difficult,” McCaskill said. “But if you really believe that reducing abortions are important in this country, which I do, then it doesn’t work to keep putting up barriers to women getting birth control.”

Political observers such as Burdett Loomis, a KU professor of political science who has worked with Sebelius, called the decision “bad policy and bad politics.”

“Some women voters may perceive this in favorable terms, but the pushback from Catholics is so great, and almost across the board,” Loomis noted. “That’s part of the base the Democratic Party needs.”

Despite the angry response from Catholics and other religious groups, the administration appears reluctant to reconsider its decision. Churches are exempt, White House officials argued. And doctors aren’t required to prescribe contraceptives, and no one is required to buy them.