Tim Murphy and pro-life protesters (Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

A Republican Congressman who publicly opposes women having the right to a legal abortion has refused to resign despite urging his mistress to have an abortion when he thought she was pregnant.

Tim Murphy, the representative for Pennsylvania, will see out his existing term, though he won’t seek re-election at the next election in 2018.

Shannon Edwards, the woman with whom Murphy was cheating on his wife, contacted the politician after she thought she was pregnant, and he suggested that she get an abortion, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

The newspaper received a number of documents exposing the affair, including the text exchange.

According to these texts, Edwards replied: “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.”

In response, Murphy seemed to distance himself from his repeated public messages against a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion.

“I get what you say about my March for life messages,” he said.

“I’ve never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced. I told staff don’t write any more. I will.”

Other documents seen by the newspaper suggest an unhappy working relationship in Murphy’s office.

Murphy did not mention the scandal in his statement released this week.

“After discussions with my family and staff, I have come to the decision that I will not seek re-election to Congress at the end of my current term,” he said.

“I plan to spend my remaining months in office continuing my work as the national leader on mental health care reform, as well as issues affecting working families in southwestern Pennsylvania.”

A member of the House Pro-Life Caucus, Murphy has in the past received the support of so-called “Pro Life” groups for his public opposition to abortion rights.

This includes endorsement from LifePAC and messages of support from the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council.

While not commenting on Murphy’s situation executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates Sari Stevens said: “Hypocrisy reigns supreme on this issue, particularly among lawmakers.

“I’ve had Republican lawmakers behind closed doors say things like, ‘My sister had an abortion, and it was a good decision for her at the time, but I’m voting pro-life’.”