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Spahn resigns over surrogacy
Jens Spahn resigned as chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag after a political controversy over his decision to become a father through a surrogate mother in the United States.
“The CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn resigns after days in which the debate about his fatherhood via surrogacy in the United States has raised a problem for the German government, which is grappling with poll results far from encouraging and the rapid advance of the far right”
The EU Today report says Spahn announced his departure in a letter to members of the conservative parliamentary group on Saturday, 18 July, after he and his husband, Daniel Funke, revealed on Wednesday that they had become parents to a son born through surrogacy in the United States.
DW said Spahn stepped down on Saturday amid a controversy surrounding his decision to have a child via surrogacy, and it quoted Spahn saying, "In recent days, I have come to realize that my personal happiness in starting a family with my husband and becoming a father is incompatible with my political office."
DW also reported that Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the decision both "correct" and "unavoidable," and said Merz would work with Markus Söder to put forward a proposal for a new parliamentary group chair.
The Guardian added that surrogacy is banned in Germany and that Spahn and Funke used a surrogate mother in the US, after Spahn had refused to relax the ban when he was health minister in 2020.
Reactions and competing narratives
Reactions to Spahn’s resignation varied across Germany’s political spectrum, with the Greens and the socialist Left Party framing the issue as one of credibility and political responsibility rather than only personal life.
DW quoted Greens co-chairs Britta Hasselmann and Katharina Dröge saying the resignation was not "only about a personal decisions that stood in defiance of a party position," and it also quoted the Left Party’s Sören Pellmann saying that anyone "who bears political responsibility must be measured by the yardsticks that they set for other people."
In contrast, DW quoted far-right AfD co-leader Alice Weidel describing the resignation as "overdue," adding that Spahn’s COVID-era misadventures alone made him "untenable."
The Guardian reported that Marion Rosin, a Christian Democrat in Thuringia and part of the Women’s Union, told the BBC that "Politicians who set standards for others must be measured by them too," and it said Daniel Peters of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania told Bild that it was "completely unacceptable" for Spahn to vote one way and "act quite differently as a private individual."
Politico.eu said Merz described Spahn’s decision to resign as "right and inevitable" and added that "Credibility is the most valuable asset in politics," while it also described the controversy as a debate over hypocrisy because surrogacy is banned in Germany.
What comes next for CDU/CSU
After Spahn’s resignation, the immediate political task described in the sources was finding a new parliamentary group chair to maintain discipline across the joint CDU/CSU group and coordinate government legislation in the Bundestag.
“- Published German centre-right politician Jens Spahn has resigned as parliamentary group leader of the country's governing coalition after being accused of hypocrisy over his use of a surrogate mother in the US to have a child”
EU Today reported that Alexander Hoffmann, the group’s first deputy chairman, is expected to oversee its work temporarily while the two parties consider a permanent appointment, and it said the resignation does not require Spahn to leave the Bundestag.
DW said Merz would now work with Markus Söder to put forward a proposal for a new parliamentary group chair, and it quoted Merz saying, “The procedure and timeline will now be coordinated with the party and parliamentary group committees,” he said.
The Guardian added that under the 1990 Embryo Protection Act surrogacy in Germany is punishable with three years’ imprisonment or a fine, and it reported that in February the CDU voted to maintain the ban at a party conference.
EU Today also said the controversy may renew debate in Germany over whether the country’s surrogacy rules remain workable, with supporters arguing international surrogacy does not remove concerns about exploitation, financial pressure or competing claims over parenthood.
