Politics

GOP Rep. Tim Murphy announces plan to retire at end of term

October 4, 2017 / 7:13 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pennsylvania, who has been caught up in an affair scandal, announced Wednesday that he plans to retire at end of his current term.

"After discussions with my family and staff, I have come to the decision that I will not seek reelection to Congress at the end of my current term," Murphy said in a statement to CBS Pittsburgh, adding that he would spend his remaining time in Congress concentrating on his "work as the national leader on mental health care reform."

Murphy, who is anti-abortion, appeared to urge a woman with whom he was having an affair to have an abortion, according to a Tuesday report in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The paper obtained documents featuring apparent text messages between the mistress, Shannon Edwards, a forensic psychologist, and Murphy.

"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," Edwards wrote in a text to the congressman in January, according to the report.

Murphy then replied: "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 news of Murphy's resignation comes one day after the House passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a bill which would prevent women from getting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Murphy is a co-sponsor of the legislation.

The report also referenced a six-page memo titled "Office Conduct and Behavior: Harassment/Legal Compliance" from the congressman's chief of staff, Susan Mosychuk, who writes that Murphy created a state of "terror" in their office.

Rep. Murphy apologized for the affair, issuing this statement in September:

"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."