German politician resigns after surrogacy child controversy

German centre-right politician Jens Spahn announced his resignation as parliamentary group leader of the country's governing coalition on Saturday, following controversy over his use of a surrogate mother in the United States to have a child. Surrogacy is prohibited in Germany — a policy backed by his Christian Democrat party (CDU) and, several years ago, by Spahn himself — although raising a child born to a surrogate mother abroad is not illegal.

In a statement, Spahn said: "I have realised that my personal happiness — founding a family together with my husband and becoming a father — is not compatible with my political office." Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who leads the CDU, called the decision "right" and "inevitable." "Credibility is the highest asset in politics," he wrote on social media, adding that he would begin the process of appointing Spahn's replacement.

The 46-year-old Spahn revealed earlier this week that he and his husband Daniel Funke had become parents, with their use of a surrogate abroad prompting criticism from politicians across several parties, including his own. Announcing his resignation, Spahn wrote: "The balancing act between my private decision to have a child through surrogacy and the understandable expectations placed on me as Chairman of our parliamentary group has become greater than I anticipated." He also noted the "increasing relentlessness in public discourse" had given him "deep pause for thought."

German media reported that Alexander Hoffmann, head of the Christian Social Union parliamentary group, would temporarily take over Spahn's duties until a successor is chosen. Hoffmann said: "Jens Spahn's decision deserves the utmost respect."

Under Germany's 1990 Embryo Protection Act, surrogacy is punishable with up to three years in prison or a fine. For many German couples, same-sex or heterosexual, surrogacy abroad has become an important option. As recently as February, Spahn's party signed a resolution reaffirming its support for the ban on the practice within Germany, to prevent the emergence of "commercial or neutral models that turn surrogacy into a business model."

Critics pointed out that, as health minister in 2020, Spahn rejected calls by the liberal FDP to relax the ban on surrogacy in Germany. In 2015, he wrote that "as a gay man and a Christian I find it personally very hard to warm to the idea of a rented womb." Before Spahn's resignation, Daniel Peters, a leading CDU politician in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, told the tabloid Bild that Spahn's position was "no longer tenable and he must resign."

Other EU countries including France, Spain and Italy also ban surrogacy. France's top court ruled this month that babies born to a surrogate mother abroad should be legally recognised as their intended parents' children. Meanwhile, Italy made it illegal in 2024 for Italians to have a baby abroad through surrogacy, a policy driven by Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government.