The Pro-Life Campaign is seeking clarification from the All-Party Committee on the Constitution about a report that it would rule out an absolute ban on abortion when it makes its report to the Government.
The committee, which last week concluded its public hearings, has achieved a consensus against option one in the Green Paper on abortion, which is for an absolute constitutional ban, its chairman, Mr Brian Lenihan, said in an interview in the Irish Examiner yesterday.
In a statement, the Pro-Life Campaign said that the recent committee hearings brought into sharp focus the confusion which existed regarding the terminology used to described standard medical interventions in pregnancy.
"If Deputy Lenihan's understanding of the Green Paper's term `absolute constitutional ban on abortion' is that it compromises current medical treatment of pregnant women in Irish hospitals, then the Pro-Life Campaign would not take issue with his comments", the organisation said.
However, if it was being suggested that the committee favoured introducing a regime which ignored current medical ethics and allowed for direct and intentional abortion, then the Pro-Life Campaign would "vigorously oppose such a move", the statement added.
In the interview, Mr Lenihan said that evidence given to the committee by the masters of the three Dublin maternity hospitals indicated strongly that an absolute ban would put the lives of expectant mothers at risk.
"There would appear to be general agreement that constitutional and legislative provisions have to provide for absolute certainty as far as maternal health in maternity hospitals is concerned. There is a clear consensus emerging on that in the committee - from the line of questioning and from the answers", Mr Lenihan said. "That is why there is a real advance as a result of our hearings, because a lot of the submissions made to us argued for an absolute ban."
Mr Lenihan refused to be drawn on the committee's views on the other six options outlined in the Green Paper.
The committee is due to report to the Government by October at the latest and is expected to reduce the seven options in the Green Paper to three.
While it was originally thought that the Taoiseach and the Cabinet would then make a decision on what the Government intended to do, it now seems that Mr Ahern will refer the committee's report to the Cabinet subcommittee on abortion.
Three of the four Independent TDs met Mr Ahern recently to discuss the issue. The most vocal was the Wicklow TD, Ms Mildred Fox, who appealed to the Taoiseach to make an early decision. She said that unless Mr Ahern gave a commitment to another clearly worded referendum on abortion she would withdraw her support from the Government.