(AP) — A prominent member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s centre-right party came under fire on Friday for having a child through a surrogate pregnancy in the United States, despite the practice being illegal in Germany.
Jens Spahn, the chairman of the CDU’s faction in the German parliament, and his husband recently became parents to a son born to a surrogate mother in the United States, according to German media reports.
The CDU is, however, strictly opposed making surrogate pregnancies legal in Germany and some in the party have criticised Spahn’s actions.
Merz on Friday said he saw “no need to change” Germany’s ban on surrogacy or his party’s clear opposition to it.
Asked whether he still supported Spahn, Merz would only say that the matter would be “discussed at the next meeting of the CDU’s national executive committee”.
Others in Merz’s party have been forthright in their condemnation, calling on Spahn to resign as head of the CDU’s parliamentary group.
But Spahn defended his decision late Friday, telling a podcast by the Bild newspaper that he had “wrestled with myself for a long time, including on the issue of surrogacy.
“I was torn for a long time. But through this wrestling and engaging with the issue, we decided on this path,” he said, adding these were not “easy decisions”.
As for his own future as head of his party’s parliamentary faction, Spahn said he would discuss the matter with his colleagues.
“Only the parliamentary group can decide how things will continue,” he said.
Daniel Peters, the leader of the CDU in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, urged Spahn to quit his post, saying it was “completely unacceptable” for Spahn to vote one way as a party lawmaker and then “act quite differently as a private individual”.
The head of the CDU’s group for older members, Hubert Hueppe, told Der Spiegel magazine that he was “personally shocked” by Spahn’s decision in spite of the CDU’s “clear stance” on the issue.
“Of course, I can understand that everyone desires a child, including homosexual couples,” Hueppe said, but added that the debate is over “whether women are being instrumentalised”.
According to Bild, the couple’s surrogate was around four months pregnant when the CDU last voted to maintain the ban on surrogacy in February.
Sources close to Spahn told Focus magazine that US regulations aimed at protecting women were a decisive factor in the couple’s decision to go there for a surrogate mother.
The government’s own commissioner for queer issues, Sophie Koch from the centre-left SPD, also reacted to the row.
“Many queer people want children and should be able to fulfil this wish,” she told the Rheinische Post, but added: “I don’t think commercial surrogacy is the right way.”
Spahn, 46, previously served as Germany’s health minister during the Covid-19 pandemic under former chancellor Angela Merkel.
Under Merz, he has become a prominent right-wing voice in the party, especially on immigration issues.