title:  Anti-Abortion Republican Just Aborted Himself From Office
text: U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, a staunch  pro-life  Republican representing Pennsylvania s 18th District, has resigned after being caught in a scandal which involves adultery and encouraging his mistress to get an abortion. After Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) was caught being a hypocrite of the highest order, he announced his resignation on Thursday after announcing his plan to retire after 2018. This afternoon I received a letter of resignation from Congressman Tim Murphy, effective October 21,  Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement.  It was Dr. Murphy s decision to move on to the next chapter of his life, and I support it. Well, it wasn t exactly Murphy s decision really.House GOP leaders and senior Republicans pressured Murphy to step down, according to Politico.GOP sources familiar with Murphy s thinking said the married man initially believed he could weather the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story revealing he had encouraged an abortion in texts he sent to his girlfriend, a psychologist half his age.However, in contrast to what Murphy thought, many senior Republicans did not believe he could weather the scandal  or should   until the end of his term.Several top Republicans said that Paul Ryan, who met with Murphy on Wednesday evening to discuss his future, also wanted him to step down.So really, anti-abortion Republicans aborted him from office because he was caught. GOP insiders also worried that more damaging stories could surface. And stories, in fact, were surfacing with allegations of being abusive toward his staff for years by yelling at aides and throwing folders around. Murphy reportedly berated his staff members as  worthless  and  stupid.  Murphy s chief of staff Susan Mosychuk reportedly punished staffers by making them take the stairs instead of the elevator if she thought they underperformed.Republicans didn t request his resignation because he was such a hypocritical jerkwad:Republicans believed the matter could become an ethics issue that would trigger an investigation and distract from GOP messaging. With Murphy set to resign later this month, any ethics probes would die before even getting started.One of the texts the Gazette obtained was by Shannon Edwards, a married forensic psychologist half his age with whom he was having an affair. 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,  wrote Edwards. Mrs. Edwards is now going through a divorce following the affair.Photo via Wikipedia. 