Amid affair scandal, GOP congressman announces retirement

Rep. Tim Murphy and other members of Congress. — (Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Amid allegations that he suggested the woman he was having an affair with get an abortion, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) announced Wednesday he will retire when his term is up.

"I plan to spend my remaining months in office continuing my work as the national leader on mental health-care reform, as well as issues affecting working families in southwestern Pennsylvania," he said in a statement. "In the coming weeks I will take personal time to seek help as my family and I continue to work through our personal difficulties and seek healing. I ask you to respect our privacy during this time."

The married congressman admitted in September he had an affair with Shannon Edwards, a forensic psychologist, Politico reports. On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that in January, Edwards thought she was pregnant and had an angry text message exchange with Murphy. Edwards accused Murphy of having "zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place" after he asked her "to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options." Her text came after Murphy, a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus, posted a message on Facebook about his anti-abortion views.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.