The motion calls on the Government to make this choice available to women in its upcoming abortion legislation.
However, doctors attending the ICGP annual general meeting at the weekend rejected by three votes a motion proposing that women who become pregnant as the result of a criminal act, such as rape or incest, have access to abortion.
A third motion was amended before being carried by three votes. The original wording called on the ICGP to “publicly support the Government in its commitment to introduce legislation and regulation for abortion services when there is a “real and substantial risk” to the life of the mother.
The amended motion called on the Government “to introduce clarity in the law, founded on evidence-based medical guidelines, where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother”.
The Pro-Life Campaign group hailed the revised motion as a victory.
Dr Kirsten Fuller, who attended the conference in Galway, said: “The amended motion which was carried today is a clear defeat for the pro-choice side.
“The refusal of GPs to endorse the recently published heads of the Bill on abortion sends a very strong message to the Government that any proposal it produces must be evidence-based.”
Introducing abortion on the ground of threatened suicide “would certainly not be evidence-based”.
However, Dr Mary Favier of Doctors for Choice, who proposed the motions on behalf of the Cork City faculty ICGP, said she did not agree that the amended motion was a defeat for the pro-choice side.
“We would think that it’s a positive thing. I don’t see how they [the pro-life campaign] can say that. They are trying to make the best of it. Our motion was passed after amendment, and an amendment can only be made if it does not substantially change the sentiment of the original motion.”
Dr Favier said the “most important thing” was that there had been a debate around abortion.
Outgoing ICGP chairman Dr John Delap said GPs frequently deal with pregnancies where women are told their babies are unlikely to survive more than one or two days after birth.
He said it was not surprising that doctors would feel that intervention was appropriate in such cases.
The ICGP is to give its views shortly to the Oireachtas health committee in relation to the proposed draft abortion legislation.
Last month, the Irish Medical Organisation rejected a motion calling for regulation in relation to the provision of abortion where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother.