Calls for Spahn to resign after CDU politician becomes father through surrogacy abroad

The news has provoked sharp criticism across Germany's political spectrum because surrogacy is not permitted in Germany. The ban is anchored in the Embryo Protection Act (Embryonenschutzgesetz), a law that fell under the ministerial remit of the Federal Health Ministry while Spahn served as Federal Minister of Health from 2018 to 2021. "Die Leihmutterschaft ist zu Recht in Deutschland verboten. Es ist nicht gut, wenn sich Politiker mit Macht und Geld darüber hinwegsetzen," Hubert Hüppe, chairman of the CDU-affiliated Senioren-Union, told Der Spiegel, adding that he was "persönlich geschockt" by the revelation.

Background: a long-standing ban

Spahn himself expressed personal reservations about surrogacy in a 2015 interview with GQ men's magazine, when he served as the Union faction's health policy spokesperson. "als schwuler Mann und Christ kann ich mich persönlich nur sehr schwer mit der Idee eines gemieteten Mutterbauchs anfreunden," he said at the time, adding: "Zu akzeptieren, dass ich nicht auf natürlichem Weg Vater werde, verlangt ein großes Maß an Demut. Ob ich das aufbringen kann, weiß ich nicht." The contrast with his current situation was seized on by political rivals.

Janosch Dahmen, health policy spokesperson of the Greens parliamentary group, accused Spahn of double standards: "Wer Regeln politisch propagiert, sollte nachvollziehbar erklären, warum sie für ihn selbst offenbar nicht gelten sollen," Dahmen told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. He also criticised politicians "die hier jedwede Liberalisierung gesetzlicher Grundlagen zur Leihmutterschaft vehement ablehnen, dann aber selbst im Ausland genau diese in Anspruch nehmen."

Critics across the political spectrum

Kathrin Gebel, women's policy spokesperson for the Left faction in the Bundestag, argued that "politische Maßstäbe sollten auch dann gelten, wenn das eigene Leben betroffen ist," and warned that pregnancy and birth "zu Dienstleistungen werden, die sich vor allem Wohlhabende kaufen können." She said she also views altruistic surrogacy critically "da eine Schwangerschaft und die Geburt erhebliche körperliche, gesundheitliche und soziale Risiken für die betroffenen Frauen mit sich bringen."

FDP deputy chair Henning Höne was equally blunt in comments to RND: "Was ich nicht respektieren kann, sind Politiker, die in Deutschland für Gesetze sorgen, die sie dann mit Geld und Kontakten international umgehen." An unnamed female politician from the same media group added that circumventing the German ban through a foreign arrangement "bypasses the spirit of the German law" and that "if a leading politician loses credibility, resignation is a matter of consistency."

The CDU confirmed on Thursday that it upholds the ban on surrogacy, just months after reaffirming that position at its federal party congress in February. Peter Dabrock, the former chairman of the German Ethics Council, said "it remains a feeling of sorrow that someone takes liberties because he has the money, position and opportunity to do so." The Federal Health Ministry, responding to a 2020 FDP minor inquiry, said at the time that no change to the surrogacy rules was planned and that the rationale of the regulation lies "primär in der Wahrung des Kindeswohls."

Spahn's circle pushes back

CSU state group leader Alexander Hoffmann struck a more conciliatory tone, wishing Spahn and his family "alles Gute und Gottes Segen" while insisting there is no need to change the well-founded legal framework on surrogacy in Germany. Spahn's circle pushed back against the criticism, saying that "Jens Spahn leitet grundsätzlich aus seinem Privatleben keine politischen Forderungen ab" and that in the United States a woman can only become a surrogate if she is financially independent, already has her own children, and has an orderly family life.

The controversy has also drawn attention to the financial dimension of commercial surrogacy abroad. Industry figures cited in German media put the typical cost of US surrogacy arrangements between 100,000 and 250,000 US dollars, a price tag that critics say effectively restricts the practice to wealthy families. Spahn had not yet publicly responded to the wave of criticism at the time the report was filed. The news item was first broadcast on Deutschlandfunk on 17 July 2026 and distributed via the dpa news channel.