British Members of Parliament will vote today (11Sep15) on whether to give the Assisted Dying Bill a second reading - the first stage towards it becoming law - and if passed, the bill will allow doctors in England and Wales to help end the lives of terminally ill patients.

The Star Trek actor is a strong supporter of legalised euthanasia, and he has now penned an article for British newspaper The Sun backing the bill.

He writes, "For most of my adult life I have thought that the terminally ill should have a choice. The choice to die when and where they choose. I've always been a supporter of assisted dying but it was a glimpse of the horrors of the alternative that persuaded me to become an activist...

"One evening my friend took their dog for a walk. He came back to find his darling wife dead in their marital bed having suffocated herself. She had done it that way to spare her husband the possibility of having been an accessory to her death... Her death was in loneliness and isolation - she took her life in the most ghastly way. My grieving friend was questioned by the police all night."

The actor also admits he has a personal reason for wanting the bill to become law, adding, "I'm now 75 and it's very possible I might soon find myself in a situation where I might want to end my own life."