US Congress(WASHINGTON) — Congressman Tim Murphy will resign before the end of the month, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced Thursday.
Murphy, a Republican from Pennsylvania, allegedly asked a woman he had an affair with to terminate her pregnancy, despite being a proponent of more stringent anti-abortion legislation.
“This afternoon, I received a letter of resignation from Congressman Tim Murphy, effective October 21,” Ryan said. “It was Dr. Murphy’s decision to move on to the next chapter of his life, and I support it.”
“We thank [Murphy] for his many years of tireless work on mental health issues here in Congress and his service to the country as a naval reserve officer.”
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Shannon Edwards, 32, whom Murphy recently admitted to having an affair with, messaged the 65-year-old congressman after an anti-abortion statement was posted on his office’s Facebook account in January.
“And you have zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place when you had no issue asking me to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options,” allegedly wrote Edwards in a text exchange that was a part of a number of documents obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Murphy’s office had no comment when reached by ABC News.
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