The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) has strongly rejected the Government’s abortion proposals, claiming they were presented as a "carefully constructed act of political deceit".
IFPA chief executive Mr Tony O’Brien said the proposed bill would enshrine the "abortion trail" to England in legislation.
"No amount of honeyed words from Fianna Fáil or the PDs or anyone else can disguise that fact. Good news for Ryanair and Supabus, bad news for women," Mr O’Brien said.
"In a nutshell, the Taoiseach is telling Irish women, if you can afford to travel, you may get on a plane and that’s your business, but if you are on a low income and facing a desperate situation, you may face a jail sentence of 12 years if you carry out a self-induced abortion".
Mr O’Brien said the crux of the proposal was the provision to overturn the "X case" ruling - the 1992 Supreme Court ruling to allow a 14-year-old rape victim to travel to England for an abortion because if she did not there was a real risk she would kill herself.
Under the proposed bill, the risk of suicide would no longer be taken into account and abortions in Ireland would only be lawfully carried out if the woman’s life was threatened for purely medical, physical reasons.
"If this law is passed it will create the appalling vista of future cases in which consultant psychiatrists might reach the considered view that the ending of a pregnancy is necessary to prevent the real and substantial risk of the loss of a woman’s life by suicide, but where that opinion can not then be acted upon," Mr O’Brien said.
The IFPA also criticised the way the proposed bill was announced - particularly the role of the PDs whose use of liberal pro-choice language, they said, acted as a "fig leaf for the Taoiseach’s naked ambitions to wind back the clock for women".