A Republican congressman slept with patients when he was a doctor, had sex with his subordinates and despite a pro-life voting record, pressured women in his life to have abortions.

Scott DesJarlais, who represents Tennessee's 4th district, has so far largely escaped mounting scrutiny of legislators' conduct that has forced four to quit and two more to say they will not seek re-election.

But public records show that he had a lengthy record of dubious behavior before being elected as part of the Tea Party wave to represent the largely rural south-east Tennessee district, which stretches from just outside Chattanooga to close to the suburbs of Nashville.

DesJarlais, 53, doesn't dispute the facts. He even paid a fine levied by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners in 2013 for having sex with his patients.

The shocking details of the congressman's behavior are contained in 679 pages of court documents that DailyMail.com has obtained. They come from days of evidence during his bitter 2001 divorce from his first wife Susan Lohr, nine years before he entered Congress.

DesJarlais, who is now remarried, did not return calls from DailyMail.com. He has previously said 'God has forgiven' him for his actions - but offered no evidence.

Scroll down for video

Republican Tennessee Congressman Scott DesJarlais, 53, has largely managed to avoid scrutiny of his sexual conduct, although they conflict with his family-values platform

And those involved at the time are unwilling to drag up the history. DailyMail.com tracked down the two patients who had affairs with DesJarlais and both refused to comment. One is now 49 years old and the other is 42.

'This happened nearly 20 years in the past,' said the younger patient, who was just 24 when they had their affair in 2000. 'That's where it needs to stay.'

Both the women still live in DesJarlais' congressional district. DailyMail.com is not naming them.

During his evidence, DesJarlais admitted prescribing the now-banned painkiller Darvocet to the older of the patients he was having sex with. He also took her to Las Vegas and bought her an $875 watch.

The younger patient thought she was going to have the doctor's baby. 'She said that I had her pregnant,' DesJarlais said in evidence. 'I never really believed it.'

But still he promised the younger woman - who he called 'a psycho' - that he would take her to Atlanta to have an abortion.

He also said he supported Lohr, a Gulf War veteran, in her decision to have two abortions before they were married. One was while she was on an experimental hormone drug and 'was not supposed to get pregnant,' he testified. 'There were potential risks.'

The second 'was after she had gotten back from Desert Storm and things were not going well between us and it was a mutual decision,' DesJarlais added.

'I don't think it was easy for either one of us,' he said in court. 'I think it was a very difficult and poor choice and I think that there are probably regrets both ways.'

DesJarlais, who is remarried and describes himself as 'pro-life and proud of it', was supportive of his first wife's two abortions and even offered to take a 24-year-old patient who he was sleeping with to get an abortion in Atlanta in 2000. Pictured: DesJarlais with his second wife Amy, his stepson Tyler Privette and daughter Maggie in 2014

DesJarlais now describes himself as 'pro-life and proud of it,' and has proposed including protection for 'preborn human persons' in the Constitution.

During his evidence DesJarlais also admitted threatening suicide and failing to keep proper records of drug samples provided by drug reps.

'It's not unusual to get 15 or 20 drug reps in one week,' he said. 'And the amount of samples and the competition between companies is huge. The volume is impossible to keep an accurate inventory.

'I'm not saying it's not recommended that we do. It's just impossible to do.'

His wife claimed that he had sat outside her bedroom door with a revolver threatening to kill himself. She said he had 'dry fired' the gun numerous times, but he claimed he was just opening and closing the unloaded weapon.

About the suicide threat, he said: 'It's very embarrassing to talk about. I know better than this. I deal with people at the hospital that do this.

DesJarlais was chief of staff at the Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tennessee, when he slept with two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative

'Suicide threats is probably the most immature form of attention-seeking behavior that there is and I resorted to that…and I regret it.

'I'm very ashamed of it,' he added.

His former wife, who is now understood to be going through a second divorce, resisted numerous attempts by DailyMail.com to contact her.

'She absolutely hates his guts,' one friend said of Lohr, 51, an administrator at a psychiatric hospital.

The divorce papers show the animosity between the Republican congressman who was first elected in 2010 and his first wife. Both employed lawyers who were merciless in their cross-examinations.

DesJarlais and Lohr both grew up in South Dakota and moved to Tennessee after they married. He became chief of staff at the Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tennessee. They lived on the outskirts of the sleepy town, 20 miles west of Chattanooga and had one son, Ryan, who is now 19 and a freshman at The University of Tennessee.

Custody and child support battles went on for years after the divorce was finalized.

During his testimony, DesJarlais admitted sleeping with six women — including two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative — during his three-year marriage.

One night, DesJarlais went home with a subordinate for sex after picking her up at a drunken hospital Christmas party.

In other sexual encounters, he took the women to the home where he and his wife lived.

Lohr also admitted to a string of affairs during rough patches in the marriage.

'I know God's forgiven me…I simply ask my fellow Christians and constituents to consider doing the same for me,' DesJarlais said in 2012 after the details of his divorce were revealed

Pictured: The Grandview Medical Center where DesJarlais met six of the women he slept with during his time there

Once the revelations were made, he was fined $500 for having sex with patients. The small fine was attacked at the time by Melanie Sloan, executive director of the legal watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

'This is the exploitation of women. A traffic ticket is more expensive,' she told US News & World Report.

Since getting remarried to second wife Amy and going to Washington, DesJarlais insists he is a different man. 'I know God's forgiven me…I simply ask my fellow Christians and constituents to consider doing the same for me,' he said in 2012 soon after the details of his divorce were first revealed.

Despite the record, the Congressman remains favorite to win re-election in both a contested primary and the general election.

He has won previous elections despite being dubbed 'The Biggest Hypocrite in Congress' by Politico, and 'America's Worst Congressman' by the National Review.

He handily beat his Democratic opponent by more than 30 percentage points in 2016, giving him his fourth straight victory.

'He got lucky,' Mariah Phillips, a Democrat who hopes to run against DesJarlais in the election, told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. 'All the facts about his actions came out before this current wave of revelations.

'The timing was right for him,' added Phillips, a teacher from Murfreesboro, the largest city in DesJarlais's district.

Democratic Mariah Phillips (left), who hopes to run against DesJarlais in the election, said: 'I'm surprised there haven't been more recent allegations.' Jack Maddux (right), a Republican challenger, added: 'I just can't forgive his record in Congress'

And Jack Maddux, a Republican who is challenging the congressman for the GOP nomination, said. 'The thing about the accusations against Scott is that none of them were classified as sexual harassment. That is the only thing I can come up with.

'I don't like what he did,' added Maddux, a businessman and former police officer. 'But I am a Christian and we are supposed to forgive. I just can't forgive his record in Congress.'

But Phillips, his potential Democratic opponent, is not so sure he has the capacity to change. 'I'm surprised there haven't been more recent allegations,' she told DailyMail.com.

'I don't know of anything specific,' she added. 'But considering his history I wouldn't be surprised. These days, every woman has a responsibility to step forward, especially in the welcoming, open environment we are now experiencing.

'Unlike in the past, women now will be believed.'

His spokesman Brendan Thomas described his past controversies as 'campaign issues' and stressed that voters had re-elected him three times since they were first revealed.

'He is doing a great job for the people of Tennessee,' Thomas said. 'He has been for a number of years since these issues emerged and his voters clearly agree with him.'

Scott DesJarlais was mercilessly cross-examined by his first wife’s attorney Thomas Austin, court records show. He admitted having sex with several women, including two patients