Jens Spahn quit CDU/CSU bloc post after US surrogate-baby furor
Why it matters: The exit exposes a split in Friedrich Merz’s party over Germany’s surrogacy ban and queer family policy.
Jens Spahn stepped down July 18 as parliamentary leader of Germany’s CDU/CSU bloc after days of backlash over his decision to have a child with his husband through a surrogate mother in the United States. In a resignation letter seen by Reuters, Spahn wrote that becoming a father was incompatible with his political office. The row erupted because surrogacy is banned in Germany, and the CDU voted in February to keep that prohibition. Chancellor Friedrich Merz had said a day earlier he saw no reason to change the law, while party figures including Daniel Peters and Hubert Hueppe publicly pressed Spahn over the apparent conflict between the party’s stance and his private choice.