Just as her doctoral title would imply, Dr. Shannon Edwards is not just a mistress. The 32-year-old is a highly-educated clinical forensic psychologist, a doctor who claims on her website to be the only one in the Pittsburgh area with her level of experience, including eight years of rigorous coursework and study. If you were to read this week’s headlines, all of those accomplishments would be erased. Recently, Shannon Edwards has been labeled Tim Murphy’s mistress. She’s taking the heat in order to expose Murphy for his own hypocrisy in regards to abortion.
Rep. Tim Murphy is a 64-year-old Republican representative from Pennsylvania, an outspoken conservative and (now former) husband to a wife named Nanette. He has been outspoken about his disdain for the United States’ abortion laws, rallying for stricter laws in Pennsylvania and advocating for policy change. He is a member of the House’s Pro-Life Caucus and recently approved legislation that would make it illegal to have an abortion after 20 weeks.
Apparently, this zeal doesn’t translate into his personal life.
Heavy/FacebookThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published text messages between the two in which Murphy allegedly asked Edwards to get an abortion. Edwards fired back at him about sharing his conservative stance on Facebook and accused him of misleading his constituents in regards to his views.
Edwards said that Murphy had “zero issue posting [his] pro-life stance all over the place when [he] had no issue asking me to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options,” in the January 2017 texts.
HeavyIn reply, Murphy blamed a staff member for the alleged request. “I’ve never written them. Staff does them,” he wrote. “I read them and winced. I told staff don’t write any more.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America spoke out about the allegations, calling the acts “the height of hypocrisy.”
“You shouldn’t have to be a member of Congress just to access your right to abortion,” Sasha Bruce, the vice president of the pro-choice group, said.
Murphy admitted to the affair in his divorce proceedings, saying he had “no excuses.”
“Last year I became involved in an affair with a personal friend. This is nobody’s fault but my own, and I offer no excuses. To the extent that there should be any blame in this matter, it falls solely upon me… I ask the media to respect the privacy of my family. They have done nothing wrong and deserve to be left alone.”
Edwards said that the affair began after his marriage started to fall apart.
Tweets from her account also allude to the moral behind the story: the truth.
That's the thing about the truth…you also have the amazing ability to not fear the future. https://t.co/BrYXz41LBg
— Edwards & Associates (@EdwardsAssocPgh) September 30, 2017
For now, Shannon Edwards is being painted as only the mistress, but in the end, Tim Murphy also has some explaining of his own to do.
Update:
According to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Tim Murphy has officially resigned from his position.
“It was Dr. Murphy’s decision to move on to the next chapter of his life, and I support it,” Ryan said. “We thank him for his many years of tireless work on mental health issues here in Congress and his service to the country as a naval reserve officer.”
Shannon Edwards has made all of her social media accounts private.
