Helping people to kill themselves not in public interest says Purdy opponent London, - The public interest will be damaged by an assisted suicide policy which promotes the idea that some lives don't need to be protected, warned SPUC Pro-Life.

Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, is issuing a prosecuting policy for assisted suicide.

SPUC Pro-Life, which has intervened in the courts against Debbie Purdy, the euthanasia supporter, over the past year, warned against the dangers of routinely failing to prosecute in assisted suicide cases.

Paul Tully, SPUC Pro-Life general secretary said: "This cultivates the sense that helping people to kill themselves is a good thing. In reality, such a move puts all terminally-ill and disabled people in a vulnerable position. "Where does this move leave the department of health's suicide prevention strategy? This strategy has helped to reduce the number of suicides in the past six years, and nobody can deny that this is in the public interest. Yet the euthanasia lobby want to use the DPP's policy to try to undermine society's struggle against suicide. "Euthanasia activists must not be allowed to get away with Dr Death tactics", added Mr Tully, referring to Jack Kevorkian and other unethical doctors associated with euthanasia.

SPUC Pro-Life is warning that the way will be opened to Dr Death-style practitioners if prosecutors focus only on individuals who have a financial or personal interest in the death of a vulnerable person.