The declaration came at an International Symposium on Maternal Health held in Dublin at the weekend.
Conference chair Eamon O’Dwyer, emeritus professor of gynaecology and obstetrics, NUI Galway said that treatment for conditions such as ectopic pregnancy is not considered abortion by doctors, “yet misinformation in regard to this abounds in public debate”.
Dr Ruth Cullen of the Pro-Life Campaign welcomed the declaration saying there is much confusion surrounding this issue “because those pushing abortion purposely confuse the ethical distinctions between necessary medical interventions in pregnancy and abortion”.
This declaration comes as a new group called ‘Hear Both Sides’ launched this week to challenge RTÉ over what it calls “the glaring instances of RTÉ bias against the pro-life position”.
The group aims to “raise public awareness and start a long overdue conversation about the absence of fairness and impartiality at our national broadcasting station”.
Last month Cardinal Seán Brady called on the faithful to prepare “to defend the equal right to life of a mother and child against any effort to introduce abortion”.
Referring to the expected legislative recommendations of the expert group on abortion, Cardinal Brady said that Christian values “have the same right to be heard, promoted and respected in our laws and to be put to the people in democratic decisions as other, perhaps less representative views”.
The conclusions of this week’s symposium of medical experts were issued in the Dublin Declaration on Maternal Healthcare which states that direct abortion is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman and “that the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women”.
The group, which included international and national experts on gynaecology and obstetrics, also stated that there is a fundamental difference between abortion, and necessary medical treatments that are carried out to save the life of the mother, even if such treatment results in the loss of life of her unborn child.