A GOP congressman who is backing the proposed 20 week abortion ban that passed in the House on Tuesday allegedly asked his mistress to have an abortion during a pregnancy scare.
The Pittsburg Post-Gazette first reported Tuesday that a text message sent in January suggests Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania urged his mistress Shannon Edwards, a forensic psychologist, to get an abortion. Murphy admitted to having an affair in September.
Rep. Tim Murphy, who reportedly urged a mistress to have an abortion, just voted for bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 3, 2017
The Gazette obtained a transcript of the alleged texts between Murphy and Edwards, which were spurred by an anti-abortion statement Murphy’s team posted on Facebook on his office’s public account.
“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 last week when we thought that was one of the options,” Edwards wrote in a text to Murphy on Jan. 25, according to the transcript.
CBS News reports the transcript also showed a reply on Murphy’s end which read, “I get what you say about my March for life messages. I’ve never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced. I told staff don’t write any more. I will.”
The transcript also referenced an office memo seemingly written by Murphy’s chief of staff, Susan Mosychuk, called, “Office Conduct and Behavior: Harassment/Legal Compliance” in which Mosychuk said Murphy was responsible for creating a “state of terror” in the office.
I, and medical associations, respectfully disagree with those 10 doctors. Here’s the letter submitted into record. https://t.co/81yLZ3OLpp pic.twitter.com/VRzJrFX0rt
— Dr. Daniel Grossman (@DrDGrossman) October 4, 2017
These allegations arose just as the House passed a bill that would criminalize abortions after 20 weeks, except in cases of rape and incest and when the mother’s life is in danger, CNN reports.
Murphy is one of the co-sponsors of the bill, called “The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act”, which many advocates and medical professionals have said is based on “junk science” and information that has not been thoroughly vetted by the scientific community.