Germany’s CDU party chair resigns after using surrogacy to become parent | Germany

Friedrich Merz, a senior German politician and ally of the chancellor, resigned as chairman of the Christian Democratic (CDU) party after she and her husband used a surrogate mother to become parents; This was a practice that he had criticized in the past and was strongly opposed by his party.

Surrogacy is banned in Germany, a policy Jens Spahn refused to relax when he was health minister in 2020, so she and her husband Daniel Funke used surrogates in the US.

After writing in 2015 that “as a homosexual and a Christian, I personally find it very difficult to warm up to the idea of ​​a rented womb,” Spahn welcomed the child to German newspaper Bild on Wednesday, saying: “Georg is our greatest joy. It is almost impossible to put this feeling into words.”

The announcement drew immediate criticism from people inside and outside the Christian Democratic party, with many accusations of hypocrisy directed at Spahn.

Marion Rosin, who is part of the Christian Democratic and Women’s Union in Thuringia, told the BBC: “Politicians who set standards for others should also be measured by them.” “If that credibility is lost, resignation is a matter of consequence.”

Under the Embryo Protection Act 1990, surrogacy in Germany is punishable by three years’ imprisonment or a fine; For this reason, many German couples choose to do surrogacy abroad.

In February, when the surrogate mother of Spahn’s child was about four months pregnant, the Christian Democrats (CDU) voted at a party conference to continue the ban.

Spahn, 46, a leading voice on the right wing of the CDU who has pushed for a tougher stance on immigration, initially tried to defend himself in interviews with the media. The couple told Bild that they “struggled with myself for a long time, including with the issue of surrogacy” before deciding to move on.

But this failed to appease his critics, including leading members of his own party. “Jens Spahn is no longer tenable as head of the parliamentary group and must resign,” Daniel Peters, leader of the CDU in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, told Bild newspaper on Friday. He added that it was “completely unacceptable” for Spahn, as a senior CDU politician, to vote one way and then “act quite differently as a private individual”.

Spahn’s party colleague and health spokesman Janosch Dahmen also said that the problem was not with his child, but with double standards and Spahn’s political credibility.

“Anyone who defends the rules politically should be able to clearly explain why these rules do not apply to them personally,” Dahmen said.

As calls for Spahn’s resignation grow, Merz has refused to comment on Spahn’s future in the party, telling reporters on Friday that the issue will be discussed at the party’s next executive meeting.

“One thing is clear to me: For me, and this is becoming clearer every hour, there is nothing more important than my family,” Spahn said in an interview with Bild that day.

On Saturday, Spahn resigned from his post in the party.

“Recently, I realized that the personal happiness that comes with starting a family with my husband and being a father is incompatible with my political office,” Spahn said.

In a post on X, Merz wrote that Spahn’s decision to resign was “right and inevitable. Credibility is the most valuable asset in politics.”