Led by House Speaker John Boehner, congressional Republicans said Wednesday that they would seek to reverse the Obama administration’s policy requiring religiously affiliated nonprofit groups to cover birth-control services for employees, the Associated Press reports.

The White House reaffirmed support for the rule, which it has characterized as part of broader efforts to focus on preventative care in the new health-care law, while signaling it was still seeking a compromise on the issue.

The administration and congressional Democrats have focused on contraceptive services as a women’s health issue, while Republicans and religious groups, particularly the Catholic Church, frame the rule as an effort to force faith groups to pay for care that violates their religious teaching.

The birth-control debate, along with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure/Planned Parenthood flap and a California court’s rejection of the state’s gay-marriage ban, have brought the so-called culture wars to the forefront of election-year politics. Referring to the contraception rule in a speech from the House floor, Mr. Boehner said, “This attack by the federal government on religious freedom cannot stand.”