Overview
- Jens Spahn stepped down as leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on Saturday after he and his husband announced they had become parents using a paid surrogate in the United States.
- Alexander Hoffmann and Steffen Bilger assumed interim control of the parliamentary group while Chancellor Friedrich Merz is pressing for a quick successor and has not ruled out reshuffling his cabinet.
- Under the Embryonsschutzgesetz surrogacy is illegal in Germany and medical professionals can face criminal liability, though a 2024 expert commission said narrowly regulated altruistic surrogacy could be conceivable.
- The case has split politics and public opinion: Greens and some legal scholars urge reevaluation of the ban while CDU leaders reaffirmed their February party decision to reject surrogacy, and an INSA poll shows 41% against the ban, 39% in favor and about 20% undecided.
- Beyond leadership fallout, the episode raises practical issues for families—complex recognition of parenthood after foreign surrogacy and access uneven by wealth—and could force a longer parliamentary fight over whether and how Germany might change its rules.