German CDU leader Spahn faces ouster over US surrogacy
The revelation that top German conservative Jens Spahn used a US surrogate to father a child has triggered calls for his resignation and highlighted Europe's fractured approach to the practice.
Jens Spahn, the parliamentary leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats, announced on Wednesday that he and his husband Daniel Funke had become parents to a boy named Georg via a surrogate in the United States. The disclosure immediately sparked accusations of hypocrisy, as Spahn has been a staunch supporter of his party's strict opposition to surrogacy.
Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Germany under the 1990 Embryo Protection Act, carrying a penalty of up to three years in prison. As health minister in 2020, Spahn rejected liberal calls to relax the ban, and in 2015 he described the practice as a "rented womb".
The harshest criticism has come from within his own political camp. Marion Rosin of the CDU’s Women’s Union argued that politicians who set standards must be measured by them, stating that "if that credibility is gone, resignation is a matter of consequence." Senior CDU figure Daniel Peters went further, telling Bild that Spahn's position was "no longer tenable and he must resign".
Opposition politicians have also questioned his credibility. Green party health spokesman Janosch Dahmen accused Spahn of double standards, noting that anyone who advocates for rules should explain why they do not apply personally. Henning Höne of the liberal FDP argued it was unacceptable for politicians to evade domestic laws "internationally with money and contacts".
A fragmented European landscape
The scandal underscores the awkward reality of cross-border surrogacy for European citizens. While Germany, France, Spain, and Italy all ban the practice, couples frequently bypass these restrictions by travelling to jurisdictions where it is legal.
European governments are currently pulling in sharply different directions on how to handle this loophole. France’s top court ruled this month that children born to surrogates abroad must be legally recognised by the state. Conversely, Italy’s government made it explicitly illegal for citizens to use overseas surrogates earlier this year.
Spahn is not the first German politician to navigate this divide, as CDU colleague Hendrik Streeck also fathered a child via a US surrogate this year. However, Spahn’s role as a parliamentary leader makes his case a direct test of whether conservative parties can maintain strict domestic bans while their own members utilise foreign markets to build families.
