A senior German politician who previously spoke out against surrogacy – referring to it as “rented wombs” – has resigned from his leadership position after revealing he used a surrogate to start his own family.
Jens Spahn, a close ally of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has resigned as parliamentary group leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) following criticism labelling him a hypocrite.
Surrogacy is banned in Germany, and in 2020, when he served as Health Minister, Spahn resisted efforts to relax the laws. In 2015, he shared his personal views on surrogacy, writing, “As a gay man and a Christian, I find it personally very hard to warm to the idea of a ‘rented womb.’”
This week, alongside his husband Daniel Funke, he spoke about their son being born via surrogacy in the United States.
“Georg is our greatest joy. This feeling is almost impossible to put into words,” he told the German newspaper Bild. His disclosure drew criticism from within his own party—many of whom remain opposed to surrogacy—as well as from political opponents.
Spahn, 46, said he had wrestled with the issue morally before making his decision. However, this explanation did not satisfy critics, and he subsequently announced he would step down from his leadership role.
Janosch Dahmen, a member of the Green Party, stated the issue was not that Spahn and Funke started a family, but rather the perceived inconsistency.
“Anyone who advocates for rules politically should be able to explain clearly why those rules apparently do not apply to them personally,” Dahmen said.
