“In recent days, I have realized that my personal happiness in creating a family with my husband and becoming a father is incompatible with my political duties,” wrote CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn in a letter to colleagues obtained by AFP.
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J. Spahn’s and F. Merz’s CDU party strongly opposes surrogacy, and at the party congress held in February, they voted to maintain this ban in Germany.
J. Spahn and his husband recently became parents by using surrogacy services in the United States.
This decision immediately drew criticism within the CDU party itself when the news appeared in the German press on Thursday, including calls for J. Spahn to resign, as well as accusations of hypocrisy from other politicians.
J. Spahn tried to defend himself in an interview given on Friday on the “Bild” newspaper podcast.
He stated that he “struggled with himself for a long time, including on the issue of surrogacy,” until he finally decided to have a child in this way.
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F. Merz on Friday declined to publicly comment on J. Spahn’s decision but said that the party’s national executive committee would discuss the issue.
The Chancellor also added that he sees no reason to change German laws on surrogacy or to alter the CDU’s long-standing opposition.
46-year-old J. Spahn previously served as Minister of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic in the government of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In recent years, he has become a prominent voice of the CDU’s right wing, especially advocating for a stricter stance on immigration.
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