Both sides in the abortion debate have welcomed the new guidelines from the Medical Council on the subject.
On Wednesday the Medical Council voted, by 14 votes to eight, to adopt a new guideline on abortion, which said the termination of a pregnancy was permissible where there was "a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother".
It also states that the council subscribes to the submission of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution. This outlined the medical circumstances in which intervention in a pregnancy might be necessary to save the mother's life. The submission did not include the threat of suicide.
In a statement the Pro-life Campaign welcomed the decision of the council to adopt the institute's submission. Its spokeswoman, Dr Berry Keily, said: "The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has made clear the distinction between necessary medical interventions in pregnancy, which may regrettably lead to the unavoidable death of the baby, and procedures which are designed to end the life of the unborn child.
"The statement of the institute represents the consensus position among the country's obstetricians and gynaecologists and has brought a greater degree of clarity to the debate."
Dr Sheila Jones of the Irish Family Planning Association also welcomed the new guideline. "It is an advance on what was there before. This is a much clearer guidline."
She said it was open to doctors to interpret what was a "real and substantial threat" to the life of the mother, and to argue this, if necessary, before the council. "The position of the IFPA has always been that the termination of a pregnancy is a medical matter between a woman and her doctor and should be treated like that."