Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), who has been an anti-abortion advocate, may have suggested that a woman he had an extra-marital affair with have an abortion, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The Post-Gazette obtained a text sent from the woman to Murphy saying the lawmaker had suggested she have an abortion during a pregnancy scare. The woman turned out not to be pregnant at the time.
“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,” she texted Murphy on Jan. 25, according to the Post-Gazette.
{mosads}
“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,” read a response sent from Murphy’s phone.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that the text messages, which showed Murphy’s cell phone number, were among a series of documents it had obtained such as emails, phone records and court documents.
Murphy publicly admitted to the affair last month.
“Last year I became involved in an affair with a personal friend. This is nobody’s fault but my own, and I offer no excuses. To the extent that there should be any blame in this matter, it falls solely upon me,” he said in a statement at the time.
“The office has no comment or response to the story,” Murphy spokeswoman Carly Atchinson told The Hill.
Murphy, a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus, has received support from the Family Research Council and was endorsed by the pro-life political action committee LifePAC.