Spahn faces resignation calls over US surrogacy

Jens Spahn, the parliamentary group leader of Germany's CDU party, is facing intense pressure and calls for his resignation after he and his husband became parents through surrogacy in the United States. The use of a surrogate mother is illegal in Germany, and Spahn's own party has consistently opposed its legalization.

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Jens Spahn is no longer tenable as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group and must resign.

Daniel Peters, the CDU chairman in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and a member of the federal CDU executive board, stated that Spahn is "no longer tenable as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group and must resign." Opposition parties have also accused Spahn of double standards. Spahn and his husband, Daniel Funke, announced their child's birth on Wednesday, with a surrogate mother in the U.S. carrying the baby.

The core criticism stems from Spahn privately availing himself of a service that he, as a politician, has politically opposed for others in similar situations in Germany. Peters argued that Spahn "deliberately disregarded German law" by using surrogacy in the U.S. He added that Spahn claims the right to act differently as a private individual than he votes as a CDU representative, calling it "completely unacceptable."

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With a surrogacy in the USA, Spahn has deliberately disregarded German law.

Mechthild Heil, chairwoman of the women's group within the CDU parliamentary group, sharply criticized the practice, stating in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that "women must not be bought for sex, nor misused as incubators." She described it as an "exploitative system between intended parents and surrogate mothers" and declared, "I reject the buying of children and thus surrogacy."

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Women must not be bought for sex, nor misused as incubators. I reject the buying of children and thus surrogacy.

Stefan Evers, a leading CDU candidate in Berlin who is married to a man, offered a more reserved perspective in the Tagesspiegel, saying, "For me personally, it would not be the right way." Spahn previously served as Federal Minister of Health from 2018 to 2021, overseeing the Embryo Protection Act, which prohibits surrogacy. In 2020, his ministry stated that no changes were planned, emphasizing the law's focus on child welfare. In 2015, GQ magazine quoted Spahn, then the CDU's health policy spokesperson, expressing personal difficulty with the idea of a "rented womb" and questioning his ability to accept not becoming a father naturally with humility.

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For me personally, it would not be the right way.