Doctors are still operating without any clinical guidelines under the State's abortion law, more than six months after it was introduced.

The current controversy over the young pregnant woman who was refused an abortion on the grounds of suicide risk and then went on to deliver her baby by caesarean section at 25 weeks gestation have highlighted the difficulties faced by doctors who must make decisions in these cases. At one stage prior to the delivery the woman went on hunger strike following the abortion refusal.

Yet the Department of Health, despite promising the imminent publication of guidelines for doctors for many months, has yet to officially publish them.

Meanwhile, the HSE has now announced that it is to launch a probe into the case.

Draft guidelines on the operation of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act were drawn up by an expert group earlier this year.

This draft has been leaked and is in circulation, but it is not clear to what extent, if any it may have been used in the current controversial case. The Department of Health says these are not the final version of the guidelines.

The young woman was refused an abortion by a panel of three consultants. The obstetrician on the panel judged that the baby could be delivered as the woman was far enough into her pregnancy.

It is not clear why there has been such a long delay in the official publication of the guidelines. The expert group tasked with drawing them up first met last September and a draft guidance document  was completed in the spring.

As it stands currently, without the guidelines, doctors involved in any decision about a potential termination must rely on the terms of the Act and their own clinical judgement.

A Department of Health spokesperson told irishhealth.com the guidance document is currently been finalised and will then need to be submitted to the Minister for Health prior to publication.

"It is expected that this will happen shortly," the spokesperson said, adding that the guidelines currently in the public domain are not the final version.

HSE Director General Tony O'Brien has requested that a report be drawn up on the controversial abortion case.

Mr O'Brien said the report would seek to establish the full facts surrounding the matter, the sequence of events, the care given to the woman involved, the operation of the 2013 Act and any learnings that can be gleaned from the case.

"It is hoped that the report will end any inaccurate commentary surrounding this matter currently, " Mr O'Brien said.

The report, expected to be published by the end of next month, will not seek to review the decision taken by the clinicians involved in the case, Mr O'Brien said.

The HSE review is expected to look at the apparent delay between the woman first seeking an abortion eight weeks into her pregnancy and the subsequent decision to refuse a termination and the eventual delivery of her baby much later into the pregnancy.