There was a heated and emotive debate on the issue at the Irish Medical Organisation’s AGM, which also heard that doctors were out of step with the majority of the population, who wanted abortion in certain circumstances.

The main motion was defeated 42 votes to 31. Two others motions — calling for abortion for women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest, and for those with fatal foetal abnormalities — were also defeated.

The 90-minute debate was unruly at times, and punctuated by calls for points of order, procedural issues, and numerous interruptions from the floor.

Doctors adopted entrenched positions, with Fintan Howell commenting wryly that “nobody is going to say anything that will change opinions”.

Cork GP Mary Favier, who moved all three motions, said women’s lives were being compromised in the current situation.

She called on doctors to show leadership and to send a clear message to Government that they supported necessary changes.

Mark Murphy, a junior hospital doctor in Sligo, who seconded, said they were talking about some of the most vulnerable people in society — women with a disease that could result in their deaths.

Such women should not have to go abroad for abortions and the situation needed to be clarified, he added, rejecting claims that floodgates would be opened for abortion on demand.

Dr Murphy said that upwards of 150,000 Irish women had had abortions in the UK, with some suffering additional ill-health by having to travel for terminations. The choice should be left to the women, he said.

The motion was dominated by doctors opposed to abortion, including Dublin GP Cyril Daly, who said he was reminded of German doctors who, during the Second World War, conducted tests and carried out abortions at the behest of the Nazi regime.

Urging Irish doctors not to go down that road, Dr Daly made an impassioned plea to the 5,000-member IMO, the doctors’ trade union, to resist the pressure to introduce abortion.

A retired Kerry GP, Maurice Fahy, said a referendum had decided that children be protected at all stages of life. Doctors would be vilified by the public, and rightly so, if they passed the motion, he claimed.

Ken Egan, a Mayo GP with 40 years of experience, warned against giving a “toe in the door” to abortion and said the floodgates would open if any concessions were made.

Eleanor Corcoran, a psychiatrist who worked in the UK in the 1970s, said there was no evidence that abortion worked as a treatment for suicide and argued that having a baby protected a mother against suicide.

“If you follow this motion, you will have abortion on demand [in Ireland] in no time,” she said.

Towards the end of the debate, Dr Favier said the IMO was trailing behind the Irish people, as surveys showed a majority of the population supported abortion in some circumstances.

“This is about offering a choice to women in really disturbing circumstances and 75% of people support this change in the law,” she said.