Pro-life congressman reportedly asked girlfriend to get an abortion

An anti-abortion congressman asked his mistress to have an abortion when he thought she might be pregnant, according to a report this week.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said it obtained text messages between  Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., and Shannon Edwards, the woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair.

In a Jan. 25 text message, Edwards said Murphy had "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," according to the paper.

"I've never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced," Murphy's number replied, blaming his staff for his anti-abortion messages. "I told staff don't write any more."

Ultimately, Edwards was not pregnant.

Murphy's spokeswoman had no comment on the report.

The revelation came as the House on Tuesday approved Republican legislation that would make it a crime to perform an abortion after 20 weeks of fetal development. Murphy, who is a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus, was among the bill's co-sponsors.

The bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where Democrats have enough votes to kill the measure.

Murphy recently acknowledged his affair with Edwards, which became public as a result of her divorce proceedings.

He is serving his eighth term representing a district in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.