The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) has urged the all-Party Committee on the Constitution to drop the option of an absolute constitutional ban on abortion from further consideration.
"Since such a ban is neither desirable nor achievable, largely for reasons already stated in the Green Paper, it should have no place in the ongoing debate," it said in its submission on the Green Paper yesterday.
The submission also advocates ruling out a continuation of the status quo.
The chief executive of the IFPA, Mr Tony O'Brien, said: "The Green Paper sets out all the imaginable options: the good, the bad and the ugly.
"Since the present position is so unsatisfactory, it would not appear sensible to go on as we are. As yet we do not even know the full extent of the problems with the current legal position. To continue the status quo is the political equivalent of an addiction to Russian roulette. The X case was just one shock, but other unexpected consequences may lie ahead."
The IFPA submission was critical of the Green Paper for not addressing the issue of unplanned pregnancies. It said that nothing about the existing consultation process would have any impact on the numbers now travelling for abortion, which would, it predicted, unless concrete measures were taken, amount to 100,000 in the next 10 years.