The guidance document for the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 has been published on the Department of Health website.
An independent committee of experts was set-up in September 2013.
The document is to assist health professionals in implementing the Act.
The department says the guidelines are devised to illustrate the practical operation of the Act and are not clinical guidelines.
The document says that if a GP considers a woman's life to be at real and substantial risk due to suicide, the doctor should refer her to the local consultant psychiatrist or obstetrician.
Ordinarily the referral should take place within two to three days.
Where certification of a termination of pregnancy is not given, referral to crisis pregnancy counselling services should take place within two to three days.
The document says there is no specific stage of pregnancy, below which the certifying doctor will not have to consider the possibility of preserving the life and the dignity of the unborn where practicable, without compromising the life of the mother.
In the case of a refusal to certify a termination of pregnancy, doctors responsible for assessments under the Act have a duty to notify the woman, in writing, of her right to a review.
The document says the Act does not preclude the woman from seeking her own second or subsequent opinion.
