Earlier this week, Republican Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania voted in favor of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which “would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy,” according to GovTrack.

The congressman has been lauded by the Family Research Council, for his stance on abortion, as well as for family values, generally. He also has been endorsed by LifePAC, which opposes abortion rights, and is a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus, an affiliation that is often cited by his office.

But the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found out something:

A text message sent in January to U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy by a woman with whom he had an extra-marital relationship took him to task for an anti-abortion statement posted on Facebook from his office’s public account.

“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,” Shannon Edwards, a forensic psychologist in Pittsburgh with whom the congressman admitted last month to having a relationship, wrote to Mr. Murphy on Jan. 25…

And the kicker? She wasn’t actually pregnant. It was just a scare.

“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,” he wrote in a statement. He added: “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.”

Yyyyyyeah.

[NOTE: As for the probably unconstitutional bill, it faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where Republicans don’t have the votes to override a filibuster from Democrats, who blocked similar versions of the legislation in 2013 and 2015.]

UPDATE: 

NEWS: Pa. Rep. Tim Murphy resigns

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) October 5, 2017