The proposed abortion referendum could seriously jeopardise women's health and lives by obstructing doctors from treating patients in crisis, a doctors' group has said.
Doctors for Choice, a voluntary organisation for doctors which aims to promote reproductive rights in the State, is advocating a No vote.
The organisation, which was established last December, has 50 or 60 full-time members, but "about four times that in terms of support", said Dr Mary Favier. Membership of the group is confidential.
Dr Favier, a Cork-based GP and a founding member, said the referendum "proposes that Irish doctors should be forced to turn their backs on their patients in crises".
She said "doctors are able to use their professional judgment to determine whether pregnancy creates a legitimate risk of suicide for a woman so that an abortion is a necessary option.
"For the Government to demean every doctor's ability to honestly and accurately judge mental health risks is an insult to the medical profession as a whole," she said.
The electorate will be asked to vote on the 25th Amendment to the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill 2001 on March 6th.
The Bill proposes to roll back the X case decision allowing abortion where suicide is threatened; protect human life from the moment of implantation rather than conception; and give constitutional backing to current medical practice here.
The referendum, said Dr Favier, devalues a woman's mental health and "ignores the seriousness of mental health and disorder".
"By disregarding this serious health risk, the proposed law will make a pregnant woman's life worth less than that of a foetus."
She said the group was established because "a growing number of doctors have decided not to stand quietly by as the Government plays politics with a woman's right to life". Many patients "feel that they can neither consult a doctor to receive counselling before their abortion . . . or seek follow-up care upon returning".