Minister of State Lucinda Creighton has said she did not believe there was consensus within Fine Gael, or any political party, on how to proceed following the expert group's report on abortion.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Pat Kenny, Ms Creighton said she was not convinced that there was no choice but to legislate.

She added that any legislation would have to be narrower than the Supreme Court judgement in the X case.

For example, she said the judgement made no reference as to the point in a pregnancy up to which a termination would be permitted.

"We have to be clear that in fact that the Supreme Court decision at the moment is extremely open and extremely vague. It doesn't provide any guidance on those issues.

"What the Oireachtas would have to introduce is something much much narrower, and that would at some point be tested in the Supreme Court and that is inevitable," Ms Creighton said.

She said she believed that every possible step to protect the life of the mother needed to be taken, and that in some cases that means the termination of the life of the unborn.

Ms Creighton did not agree with the labels of "pro-choice" or "pro-life", and felt that none of these labels defined her.

She also said that she believed that nobody had a moral monopoly on this issue.

"Everybody has the right to have concerns, and to consider it carefully and to ensure that we put in place a system that reflects the majority of the Irish people, that reflects in the intention of our Constitution and something we can call live with."

Ms Creighton also said that she disagreed with statements made by party colleague Minister Alan Shatter speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday night, on his belief that under the constitution as it currently stands, women do not benefit from the same right to health as men.