Pro-choice campaigners have labelled the Government's decision to hold a further referendum on abortion as a "cynical political manoeuvre".
Pledging to mobilise a determined campaign against the proposed referendum, Abortion Reform, the umbrella group of pro-choice organisations, said the Government proposal would endanger the life of women and make further X and C cases more likely.
The group's co-convenor, Ms Ivana Bacik, accused the Government of caving in to "a well-funded and well-organised minority anti-abortion movement. . .which is threatening to run candidates in the next general election".
She added: "This is completely hypocritical because it will allow the same women who can afford to go abroad to have abortions continue to do so. But there are many women in this country who are facing crisis pregnancies who can't afford to travel. Their lives are being endangered.
"We are particularly disgusted at the PDs for supporting this. It's a fudging of the issue."
The chief executive of the Irish Family Planning Association, Mr Tony O'Brien, said it was disappointing the Taoiseach lacked "the political courage to publish an amendment to the Constitution which would allow the 6,500 women travelling to the UK each year to have their abortions at home.
"In essence, his (Mr Ahern's) advice today to suicidal pregnant women is to buy a ferry or plane ticket," said Mr O'Brien.
He added that the allocation of €6.5 million to fund the new crisis pregnancy agency, also announced yesterday, was "highly inadequate and has not taken account of inflation since this amount was first recommended by the All-Party Committee on the Constitution last year".
The Government's proposals to establish a crisis pregnancy agency appeared to be long on aspiration, he said. "While many of these aspirations are in keeping with those of the IFPA, we are unaware of any recent consultation with groups working in the area of reproductive health about what exactly is needed in terms of a crisis pregnancy group," Mr O'Brien said.
Pro-Choice Campaign spokeswoman Ms Sinead Kennedy said the proposal was "completely undemocratic" in light of the Government's promise to legislate in line with the Supreme Court ruling on the X-case if the 1992 referendum on the so-called substantive issue was rejected.
"The people of Ireland made their voices heard then, and now, nine years later, the Government is saying we don't like the result so we'll do it again. It's just like Nice."
She added she believed the Government had overestimated the influence of the conservative lobby in the defeat of the Nice Treaty referendum, and this had influenced its thinking on abortion.
The Government parties, she said, "are also possibly trying to appease Independent supports and play their cards for the next coalition government. But I think they are making a serious mistake and are underestimating the way in which Irish society is more radicalised."
Ms Kennedy said the campaign would strongly oppose the proposed referendum, adding: "The climate since 1992 has shifted completely after the child abuse scandals which rocked the church, and the divorce referendum. We are on more favourable terrain now."
She cited a recent poll suggesting 73 per cent of people were in favour of legalising abortion in limited circumstances.
"In a way we are lucky to have England," she added. "Otherwise we would be having back-street abortions."
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties also criticised the proposal, describing it as "regressive. . .in an area where progress is required. The Government appears to favour using the Constitution as an export charter for Irish women in crisis pregnancies."
Also expressing opposition to the proposal, Sen Helen Keogh, chairwoman of the Dublin Well Woman Centre, said: "Abortion is a personal, moral, ethical and social issue, which has no place in any Constitution."
Ms Bacik added that the "critical point" in the proposal was ruling out suicide as a grounds for abortion.
"This will make the possibility of another X case or C case occurring again more likely. Women who have been raped or are the victims of incest will be denied abortions."
