Pro-life group receives permission to intervene in Purdy assisted suicide challenge London, 2nd October 2008 - The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has been given permission to intervene today in the High Court challenge launched by Debbie Purdy.

SPUC will submit to the court that Mrs Purdy's underlying agenda is to undermine British law against assisted suicide.

SPUC will also submit that Mrs Purdy's campaign will serve to undermine vulnerable people.

As a leading pro-life group, SPUC has campaigned for the right to life of disabled people over many years.

Mrs Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis and is backed by the pro-euthanasia group "Dignity in Dying", is challenging the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) regarding his approach to assisted suicides by Britons at the Dignitas centre in Zurich, Switzerland. Mrs Purdy has said that she may wish to commit suicide in Switzerland and wishes to know whether her husband is likely to be prosecuted if he assists her.

Assisted suicide is illegal in the UK. Fellow MS sufferer, SPUC member Mary Corrigan said: "MS is a terrible disease, and major depression and suicide are more common among MS people than most other groups. It is important that the court gets the full picture of what this case could lead to, and that is why SPUC is seeking to intervene."