Top German lawmaker Spahn resigns over surrogate pregnancy

Jens Spahn, the chairman of the German parliament's CDU faction, has stepped down after facing intense internal backlash for using a surrogate mother in the United States to have a child with his husband.

The resignation creates an immediate leadership vacuum for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's ruling party. Spahn had been instrumental in guiding the CDU back into government, but his personal decision directly contradicted the party's staunch platform against surrogacy.

Merz accepted the resignation on Saturday, calling it "right and unavoidable." He acknowledged Spahn's political contributions but stressed a hardline on the policy itself, stating he saw "no reason" to alter Germany's legal ban or the CDU's opposition to the practice.

In a letter to colleagues obtained by AFP, the 46-year-old former health minister wrote that his "personal happiness in starting a family with my husband and becoming a father is incompatible with my political office." He noted 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 proven more difficult than I had anticipated."

The swift downfall highlights the uncompromising stance of the CDU, which voted to maintain the national surrogacy ban as recently as February. Senior party figures, including the regional chairman in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, labelled the surrogacy arrangement "completely unacceptable." Hubert Hueppe, head of the CDU's older members' group, said he was "personally shocked" by the breach of the party's "clear stance," framing the debate around whether surrogacy instrumentalises women.

Opposition parties seized on the fallout to question the integrity of the political class. Luigi Pantisano of Die Linke argued the situation "once again reveals a double standard" where laws apply to ordinary citizens but top politicians can simply travel abroad to "circumvent them" if they have enough money.

The Greens suggested the controversy was symptomatic of deeper issues with Spahn's leadership. Parliamentary leader Franziska Brantner called his departure "long overdue," characterising the surrogacy scandal as "merely the final straw." Spahn's exit marks a significant shift in the CDU's right flank, removing a prominent voice who had recently driven the party's hardline approach to immigration.