--- title: Tim Murphy Won't Seek Re-Election After Abortion Scandal description: Pro-life Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy will not seek re-election in the wake of reports that he urged his mistress to have an abortion canonical: https://time.com/4970013/tim-murphy-pennsylvania-congressman-abortion/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-04T23:40:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:44:11.281Z article:section: Politics og:title: Pro-Life Congressman to Retire After Reports He Urged Mistress to Get Abortion og:description: The Republican lawmaker had already admitted to an affair og:url: https://time.com/4970013/tim-murphy-pennsylvania-congressman-abortion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt437cc2f86f4bf444/6988e09722fb855ffce23225/tim-murphy-congressman-pennsylvania.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5000 og:image:height: 2813 og:image:alt: US-AUTO-SAFETY-RECALL-GM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pro-Life Congressman to Retire After Reports He Urged Mistress to Get Abortion twitter:description: The Republican lawmaker had already admitted to an affair twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt437cc2f86f4bf444/6988e09722fb855ffce23225/tim-murphy-congressman-pennsylvania.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pro-Life Congressman Won't Seek Re-Election After Reports He Urged Mistress to Get Abortion > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Oct 4, 2017 11:40 PM UTC  Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Congressman Tim Murphy, R-PA, listens to testimony from General Motors CEO during a hearing on the GM ignition switch recall on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 1, 2014. Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Congressman Tim Murphy, R-PA, listens to testimony from General Motors CEO during a hearing on the GM ignition switch recall on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 1, 2014. JIM WATSON—AFP/Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Oct 4, 2017 11:40 PM UTC Pro-life Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy will not seek re-election at the end of his term next year in the wake of reports that he [urged his mistress to have an abortion.](http://time.com/4968559/tim-murphy-pennsylvania-congressman-girlfriend-abortion/) “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,” the Republican lawmaker said Wednesday in a statement to Pittsburgh radio station [KDKA](http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/10/04/congressman-tim-murphy-affair-abortion-retirement-reports/). “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.” Murphy had already acknowledged an affair with a “personal friend” and apologized last month, but a [Tuesday report from the _Pittsburgh Post-Gazette_](http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2017/10/03/rep-tim-Murphy-pro-life-sought-abortion-affair-shannon-edwards-susan-mosychuk-pennsylvania-chief-of-staff-congress-emails-texts/stories/201710030018) suggested that he asked the woman to get an abortion despite his staunch pro-life stance. “… 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,” a January text message from the woman obtained by the paper read. “I get what you say about my March for life messages,” a text message in response from Murphy’s number reads. “I’ve never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced. I told staff don’t write any more. I will.” Ultimately, it turned out that the woman was not actually pregnant despite Murphy and her thinking that she was at the time. Earlier Wednesday, Murphy met with Speaker of the House [Paul Ryan](http://time.com/4933927/paul-ryan-speaker-trump-freedom-caucus/) to discuss his political future, [according to Politico.](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/04/tim-murphy-abortion-mistress-243456) A number of Republican leaders urged the Congressman to step down, the report reads. Murphy is a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus and has been endorsed by anti-abortion group LifePAC. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4970013/tim-murphy-pennsylvania-congressman-abortion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4970013/tim-murphy-pennsylvania-congressman-abortion/"},"headline":"Pro-Life Congressman Won't Seek Re-Election After Reports He Urged Mistress to Get Abortion","datePublished":"2017-10-04T23:40:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:44:11.281Z","description":"Text messages suggest the Republican lawmaker had intentions contrary to his public stance","url":"https://time.com/4970013/tim-murphy-pennsylvania-congressman-abortion/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt437cc2f86f4bf444/6988e09722fb855ffce23225/tim-murphy-congressman-pennsylvania.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt437cc2f86f4bf444/6988e09722fb855ffce23225/tim-murphy-congressman-pennsylvania.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-AUTO-SAFETY-RECALL-GM","caption":"US-AUTO-SAFETY-RECALL-GM","creditText":"JIM WATSON—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4970013/tim-murphy-pennsylvania-congressman-abortion/","name":"Pro-Life Congressman Won't Seek Re-Election After Reports He Urged Mistress to Get Abortion"}}]}] ```