Bishop of Kerry, Dr Bill Murphy, said the pro-choice lobby was exploiting the situation to promote its own agenda and activists were attempting to attribute blame for the crisis to Catholic teaching.
“The suggestion that, because of this country's pro-life ethos, pregnant women are denied medical treatment is simply not true,” he insisted.
“If the life of the mother is threatened by illness or some other medical condition, she must be given the medical care needed,” Dr Murphy said on Kerry radio.
When “grey areas” arose, it was up to the medical team to determine the best way to proceed.
The bishop warned that if the Irish Government legislated on the basis of the X Case, it would introduce abortion to Ireland for the first time.
“That will be the crack in the dam or the beginning of the slippery slope. If abortion is introduced, even on a very limited basis, it becomes widespread,” he said.