Evan McMorris-Santoro February 8, 2012, 11:20 AM

In a statement set to go out to reporters today, EMILY’s List praises the White House and Democrats on the progress they’ve made so far on expanding women’s health access — but warns them against backing away from the plan to require all health insurance plans, even those at religious-run institutions like hospitals and universities, to provide contraception coverage.

“Respect for people’s religious beliefs does not mean that your boss gets to decide what kind of health care you get,” EMILY’s List president Stephanie Schriock says in the statement. “Respect for people’s religious beliefs and their individual liberty means individuals get to decide what kind of religion they practice and what health care is right for them.”

“A person may decide not to use a medication, but that’s their decision,” she continues. “Institutions that serve a broader public have an obligation to respect our nation’s core value of individual liberty, as we respect their religious beliefs.”

In the past 24 hours, the White House has appeared to signal an intention to compromise on the contraception plan with religious institutions. The issue has become a firestorm in the presidential race, with Mitt Romney attacking President Obama on the issue, and conservative groups and Catholic leaders joining in.

Schriock tells the White House to stand its ground.

“The core of our democracy is at stake if Romney and the right wing impose a structure where some women have to choose between second class citizenship and diminished access to health care or their job,” she says in the statement.

Polls show a broad-base of support for the contraception plan, even among Catholics. The White House now has to navigate between pushing a policy that seems destined to boost their standing with women, while also avoiding a major confrontation over what Republicans are framing as “religious freedom.” How groups like EMILY’s List react to the new White House policy will be an important barometer of how the administration is handling the balancing act.

Here’s the full statement from Schriock:

“We don’t get to make other people’s medical and private decisions for them, and we don’t get to cherry pick who gets what kind of health care. It is a great accomplishment of President Obama, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and leaders in Congress like Senator Barbara Mikulski that women’s health care in this country is profoundly better now than it has ever been in our nation’s history: being a woman no longer counts as a “pre-existing condition, and literally millions of women can now have access to birth control without having to sacrifice other critical things their families need. This is about those real women: What’s really at stake here is the impact on real people, like the nurse who works for modest pay at the religiously affiliated hospital, or the secretary at a university. “Respect for people’s religious beliefs does not mean that your boss gets to decide what kind of health care you get. Respect for people’s religious beliefs and their individual liberty means individuals get to decide what kind of religion they practice and what health care is right for them. A person may decide not to use a medication, but that’s their decision. Institutions that serve a broader public have an obligation to respect our nation’s core value of individual liberty, as we respect their religious beliefs. “The core of our democracy is at stake if Romney and the right wing impose a structure where some women have to choose between second class citizenship and diminished access to health care or their job.”

2012, Contraception, EMILY's List, White House