German conservative parliamentary leader resigns over surrogate baby controversy

Jens Spahn, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's centre-right CDU party, resigned from his post on Saturday, party sources confirmed. The move came amid a controversy over his use of a surrogate mother in the United States, a practice that is illegal in Germany.

In a letter to colleagues obtained by AFP, Spahn wrote that he had realized his personal happiness in starting a family with his husband and becoming a father was incompatible with his political office. The CDU party has a strong stance against surrogacy, having voted to maintain Germany's ban at a party congress in February.

Merz welcomed Spahn's resignation, calling it 'right and unavoidable' and emphasizing that credibility is the most valuable asset in politics. Spahn and his husband recently welcomed a child born via surrogate in the US, with the news breaking earlier this week.

The story immediately drew criticism from within the CDU, including calls for Spahn to resign and accusations of hypocrisy. Spahn initially defended himself in a Friday podcast interview, saying he had wrestled with the issue of surrogacy for a long time. However, on Saturday he told colleagues that the balancing act between his private decision and the expectations placed on him had proven more difficult than anticipated.

Opposition lawmakers welcomed the resignation. Luigi Pantisano of the hard-left Die Linke party said Spahn's decision 'once again reveals a double standard', noting that the law always applies to ordinary people but top politicians can circumvent it abroad with enough money.

Within the CDU, the regional party chairman in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania called Spahn's decision 'completely unacceptable'. Hubert Hueppe, head of the CDU's group for older members, said he was 'personally shocked' that Spahn went against the party's clear stance, adding that the debate is about whether women are being instrumentalized.

Merz had warned on Friday that the party's executive committee would discuss the matter and saw no reason to change Germany's surrogacy laws or the CDU's longstanding opposition.

Sources close to Spahn told Focus magazine that US regulations aimed at protecting women were a decisive factor in the couple's decision to go there. Spahn, 46, previously served as health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic under Angela Merkel and became a prominent right-wing voice in the CDU.

Franziska Brantner, parliamentary leader of the opposition Green Party, told Rheinische Post that Spahn's resignation was long overdue, even though the surrogacy controversy was 'merely the final straw'. She wished him all the best on a personal level.