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The parliamentary leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats has resigned after resorting to surrogacy to become a father — a practice prohibited in the country and opposed by his own ruling party.
Jens Spahn, a former health minister, stoked controversy and intense debate in Germany after revealing on Wednesday that he and his partner had become the fathers of a boy born in the US from a surrogate mother.
“Over the past few days, it has become clear to me that my personal happiness — starting a family with my husband and becoming a father — is not compatible with my political office,” Spahn said in a letter to Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union MPs on Saturday.
“The conflict between my personal decision to have a child via surrogacy and the understandable expectations placed on me as chair of our parliamentary group has become greater than I had anticipated.”
Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor and leader of the CDU, said: “This decision is the right one and was inevitable. Credibility is the greatest asset in politics.”
The controversy erupted at a delicate time for Merz’s conservatives, who are predicted to suffer an electoral beating from the far-right Alternative for Germany in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt in September.
Surveys suggest that the AfD, which has been campaigning on traditional family values, will surge past the ruling CDU with more than 40 per cent of the vote. If some smaller parties fail to cross the 5 per cent threshold for representation in the regional parliament, the AfD could be on track to achieve an absolute majority.
Spahn, 46, had previously voiced his opposition to commercial surrogacy, a position reaffirmed by the CDU during its congress in February.
In a 2015 interview, he said “as a gay man and a Christian” he found the concept of surrogacy difficult, adding that accepting that he might never become a father naturally would require “a great dose of humility.”
In 2021, he confided on television that the “circumstances are even a little more difficult for us to fulfil” his wish of becoming a parent.
Speaking to a Bild podcast on Friday, he said: “I wrestled with myself for a long time over the issue of surrogacy; I was torn for ages.”
Calls for his resignation within his own party as well as within the CSU grew louder by the day while editorials pointed out the hypocrisy of publicly opposing a policy he privately benefited from in another country.
“Mr Spahn should consider whether it might not be better to hand over his high-profile position within the party to someone else,” said Christiane Diehl, head of the CDU’s women group.
Merz and Spahn have never been particularly close. Spahn was regularly mooted as a potential contender for CDU party chief, despite criticism that he failed to maintain discipline among MPs on important votes.
While commercial surrogacy is legal in some states in the US, it is banned in much of Europe. Some countries allow forms of “altruistic” unpaid surrogacy under strict conditions.
“The increasing intensity of public debate has given me much food for thought,” Spahn added in his letter. “Let us, whilst remaining clear and resolute on the issues, always maintain a humane tone.”
Spahn’s successor will be appointed after consultations between the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.
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