The "inappropriate behavior" that caused Rep Trent Franks [R-AZ] to resign from Congress wasn't fondling or hugging or pressuring his staffers for sex: it was pressuring his female staffers allow him Franks and his wife to use their uteruses to gestate their children.
Franks is a virulent abortion opponent who has said that rape-related pregnancy doesn't deserve consideration in the abortion debate because rape doesn't often result in pregnancy (implying that pregnant women who say they were raped are lying).
In the rest of the statement, Franks described his and his wife's use of surrogates on two separate occasions to have children, and their desire to do so again. It's entirely unclear what about a "discussion" of the issue with female subordinates would make it so highly offensive. But it must have been, and we don't have to rely on Franks's characterization of his misconduct to figure that out. Apparently Speaker Paul Ryan was horrified by the complaints to the Ethics Committee and told Franks last week he needed to resign. That probably didn't happen because Franks was obsessed with the surrogacy process and was chatting about it with some oversensitive staffers.… [I]n the midst of this current cultural and media climate, I am deeply convinced I would be unable to complete a fair House Ethics investigation before distorted and sensationalized versions of this story would put me, my family, my staff, and my noble colleagues in the House of Representatives through hyperbolized public excoriation. Rather than allow a sensationalized trial by media damage those things I love most, this morning I notified House leadership that I will be leaving Congress as of January 31st, 2018.
Arizona Congressman Resigns for — Wait, What Was That Again? [Ed Kilgore/New York Magazine]
