Jens Spahn resigns CDU parliamentary leadership post over surrogacy controversy

Jens Spahn, chairman of the CDU faction in Germany's parliament, resigned his leadership post Saturday, party sources said, amid controversy over his use of a surrogate mother in the United States despite Germany's ban on the practice.

Spahn wrote in a letter to colleagues obtained by AFP that his personal happiness in starting a family with his husband and becoming a father was incompatible with his political office. The CDU, the centre-right party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, strongly opposes surrogate pregnancies and most recently voted at a party congress in February to maintain Germany's ban.

Bild newspaper reported that the surrogate mother contracted by Spahn was around four months pregnant at the time of that February vote. Spahn and his husband recently welcomed the child, with the news appearing in German media earlier this week. The decision drew criticism from within the CDU, including calls for Spahn to resign, and other politicians accused him of hypocrisy.

Spahn initially defended himself in a podcast interview with Bild on Friday, saying he had struggled for a long time with the decision, including the issue of surrogacy. On Saturday, he told colleagues that balancing his private decision to have a child through surrogacy with the expectations placed on him as parliamentary group chairman had proved more difficult than he had expected.

Several CDU politicians had urged Spahn to give up the leadership post, arguing that his use of a surrogate mother was untenable given the party's stated position. The regional CDU chairman in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania called Spahn's decisions completely unacceptable on Friday.

Merz declined Friday to comment publicly on Spahn's future in the party, though he personally congratulated the lawmaker on becoming a parent. Merz also said the party's national executive committee would discuss the matter and that he saw no reason to change Germany's surrogacy laws or the CDU's longstanding opposition to the practice.

Spahn, 46, previously served as health minister during the Covid-19 pandemic under former chancellor Angela Merkel. In recent years, he has become a prominent figure on the CDU's right wing, including by pushing for a tougher position on immigration.