Keir Starmer is Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for England & Wales

SPUC has criticised the new reason put forward today for the non-prosecution of sex-selective abortion.

SPUC was responding to the statement issued by Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for England & Wales. Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, commented: "Keir Starmer, the DPP, has now contradicted the earlier announcement by Jenny Hopkins of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which said that the decision not to prosecute was reached on the basis of the CPS public interest test.

"Now the DPP has said that it is essentially for lack of evidence that they are not going to proceed with any prosecution. The issue has clearly embarrassed the prosecuting authority. That embarrassment arises ultimately because the Department of Health under successive Secretaries of State not only refuses to ensure that doctors implement the grounds in the Abortion Act - providing abortions only when the grounds are met - but actually encourages doctors to offer abortion to any woman who says she wants one." [SPUC, 7 October]

Other stories:

• Blind Dutch woman granted euthanasia
• Hans Kung, renowned dissident theologian, considering suicide for Parkinson's [LifeSiteNews.com, 3 October]
  Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "It is one of the tragedies of modern Church history that Hans Kung did not become a great defender of life as his contemporary at the Second Vatican Council, Joseph Ratzinger. Unlike Kung, Ratzinger saw that the Western cultural revolution which started in the late 1960s was an anarchic rebellion against the principles which safeguard civilisation. Voluntary self-destruction is also a form of rebellion against such principles. However, it is not too late for Kung to see the light of the Gospel of Life, as the testimony of many repentant former abortionists will attest."
• Ministers in new row over abortion ruling [Telegraph, 8 October]
• Doctor receives outpouring of support after refusing to refer for sex-selective abortion [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 October]
• Remarkable new 3D images of unborn children [Mail, 8 October]
• Marie Stopes International head-hunts top salesman to repeat its abortion business successes [SPUC youth blog, 8 October]
• Babies born to smoking mums 'have smaller brains and are more anxious and moody than other children', suggests study [Mail, 7 October]
• Pro-life Catholic vigils this month in Maidstone and Stratford [John Smeaton, 4 October]
• SPUC's Anthony McCarthy comments on donor-conceived children [John Smeaton, 3 October]
• European rights court to rule on assisted suicide [Expatica, 8 October]
• St Thérèse and the victory over assisted suicide [John Smeaton, 3 October]
• Chinese dad takes photos of dead son after brutal forced abortion [LifeSiteNews.com,4 October]
• WHO sex-ed guidelines promote masturbation, abortion to children: parents outraged [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 October]
• British royal speaks about his pro-life principles [National Catholic Register, 7 October]