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Pro-life congressman won't carry out full term over abortion scandal

Republican Rep. Tim Murphy, who reportedly urged his mistress to get an abortion despite being publicly against abortion, will resign on Oct. 21, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published text messages that suggested the Pennsylvania politician — who admitted in September to having an extramarital affair with “a personal friend” — had asked Pittsburgh forensic psychologist Shannon Edwards, to end her pregnancy.

“And you have zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place when you had no issue asking me to abortion our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options,” Edwards, 32, texted Murphy in January, the paper reported.

“I get what you say about my March for Life messages,” reads a text reply from Murphy’s phone number. “I’ve never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced. I told staff don’t write any more. I will.”

The text exchange was reportedly prompted by a Jan. 24 post on Murphy’s Facebook page where the 65-year-old congressman wrote, “The United States is one of just seven countries worldwide that permits elective abortion more than halfway through pregnancy (beyond 20 weeks). It is a tragic shame that America is leading the world in discarding and disregarding the most vulnerable.”

Following charges of hypocrisy after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s exposé, Murphy originally said he’d serve out the remainder of his term.