The most recent culprit in the category of
anti-abortion double-think is Tim Murphy, a Pennsylvania Republican who on Thursday
announced he would resign from his House seat this month. Two days before, Mr. Murphy had voted for a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks on the medically dubious grounds that, at that age, a fetus can experience pain.
“I was proud both to sponsor and vote for this important bill to clearly stand for the dignity and value of all human life, both the born and the unborn,” Mr. Murphy wrote in a statement posted on his office’s Facebook page after
the bill passed in the House.
Then The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published texts revealing that when Mr. Murphy’s mistress thought she was pregnant,
he urged her to consider an abortion.
Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that he supported his ex-wife’s decision to have two abortions (no word on how far along she was) and encouraged a patient with whom he was having an affair to terminate her pregnancy as well. Like Mr. Murphy,
he is a co-sponsorof the abortion bill that passed on Tuesday.