Stephen Hawking, a well-known English scientist, spoke out in favor of assisted suicide relating to his own situation and experience as support for his assertion.

Hawking, who is the director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge and a long-time sufferer of progressive motor neuron disease, which is related to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), said he once tried to commit suicide, according to The Independent.

"We don't let animals suffer, so why humans?" Hawking asked BBC.

He said he was once on life support with is wife given the option of turning the switch off and agrees that family members should not be persecuted for doing so.

"If you have a terminal illness and you're in great pain, I think you have the right to choose to end your life. We don't let animals suffer, so why should your pain be prolonged against your wishes," Hawking said.

An Assisted Dying Bill was on the table at the House of Lords in British Parliament and was to be discussed Friday, amid much controversy, according to the Christian Post.

The bill would counter a 1961 law that punishes assisted suicides by up to 14 years in prison.

"I think everyone should have the right to choose to end their life whether they are capable of doing so without assistance or not. It is a discrimination against the disabled to deny them the right to kill themselves that able-bodied people have," Hawking said.

But ironically, if his situation had existed at a time with legal assisted suicide, it is unknown whether or not he would have been given the opportunity to lead a long productive life as he has.

"That is a decision the individual has to make, it is wrong for the law to take away that option," he said.

Now 72, the famous scientist was diagnosed with his disease in 1963 and given just a few years to live.