Christian Democratic Union (CDU) parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn is facing sharp criticism from across the political spectrum, and even from within his own party, after confirming that he and his husband, Daniel Funke, became parents with the help of a surrogate mother in the United States. The couple announced on Wednesday that they had welcomed a son, whom they named Georg.
According to German-language news media, the news has reignited a debate over surrogacy in Germany, where the practice remains illegal. It has also put Spahn in an uncomfortable position, since his own party reaffirmed at a February convention that it intends to keep the ban in place, including for so-called altruistic, unpaid arrangements. A CDU spokeswoman confirmed this week that the coalition agreement includes no plans to change the current legal situation, and a spokesperson for Family Minister Karin Prien, also of the CDU, stressed that the coalition contract does not foresee any amendment to existing law.
Accusations of Double Standards
Green Party health policy spokesman Janosch Dahmen accused the former federal health minister of applying one standard to the public and another to himself. Anyone who promotes rules politically, he argued, should be able to explain why those same rules apparently do not apply to him. Dahmen said he personally considers surrogacy problematic, citing concerns over the exploitation of the woman carrying the child, the commercialization of pregnancy and birth, and the protection of children from complicated questions of parentage. What troubled him most, he said, was seeing politicians who vehemently reject any liberalization of surrogacy law at home make use of exactly that option abroad.
The Left Party’s women’s policy spokeswoman, Kathrin Gebel, took a somewhat softer tone, saying Spahn’s family deserved the same respect as any other. Still, she suggested that if his political position had shifted, he ought to say so openly. Gebel added that she views paid surrogacy critically because it risks turning pregnancy and birth into a service that mainly the wealthy can afford, though she said she also has reservations about unpaid, altruistic surrogacy given the physical and health risks it poses to the women involved.
Free Democrat (FDP) deputy leader Henning Höne said he could respect differing opinions on what he called a complex ethical question, but not politicians who create laws in Germany and then circumvent them abroad using money and connections.
Unease Within the CDU Itself
Criticism has also come from within Spahn’s own ranks. Marion Rosin, head of the Women’s Union in Thuringia, said surrogacy is banned in Germany for good ethical reasons, and that anyone who gets around that ban by going abroad is undermining the spirit of German law. She went further, suggesting that if a top politician loses his credibility over the matter, resignation would be a logical consequence.
Hubert Hüppe, chairman of the CDU’s Seniors’ Union, told the “Focus” news magazine that surrogacy is rightly banned in Germany and that it is not acceptable for politicians with power and money to simply bypass that. He told the “Spiegel” he was personally shocked.
Does The Berlin Spectator have a newsletter? Sure. You can subscribe to it here.
The Bavarian sister party, the CSU, struck a more conciliatory note. Parliamentary group leader Alexander Hoffmann wished Spahn and his family well, invoking God’s blessing, but made clear he saw no need to revisit Germany’s surrogacy rules, which he described as well justified.
Spahn’s Circle Pushes Back
People close to Spahn have argued that the decision to go through the United States was shaped largely by the surrogate’s legal and financial circumstances, noting that surrogates there must be financially independent, already have children of their own, and lead a stable family life. His circle also emphasized that Spahn does not draw political demands from his private life.
The episode is complicated by Spahn’s own past remarks on the subject. In 2015, while serving as the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s health policy spokesman, he told the magazine GQ that as a gay man and a Christian, he personally found it very difficult to embrace the idea of a rented womb, and that accepting he would not become a father through natural means required a great deal of humility he was not sure he could summon. Later, as health minister from 2018 to 2021, a post that put him in charge of the very law banning surrogacy, his ministry told the FDP parliamentary group in 2020 that no changes were planned, explaining that the rule existed primarily to protect the best interests of the child.
Coalition Allies Congratulate
Chancellor Friedrich Merz declined to comment in depth when asked about the matter at a press conference with the Algerian president, calling it a domestic political issue. He said only that Spahn had informed him the previous Friday that he and his husband were expecting, and that he had congratulated him.
Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig, who had already ruled out changes to the surrogacy ban in May, said she is now considering a related but separate idea: recognizing “double motherhood” for women in long-term partnerships in which one partner gives birth and the other is not the biological mother. She said other forms of reproduction would also need to be discussed, adding pointedly that she hoped the CDU/CSU parliamentary leader’s own family news might bring him some understanding for the situation faced by two mothers, calling that a good step forward.
Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said he was very happy for Spahn, and Bundestag President Julia Klöckner, also of the CDU, congratulated the couple on Instagram.
Funke addressed the backlash directly in an interview with “Bild”, acknowledging that surrogacy is a topic often clouded by uncertainty and prejudice, but quoting the late football great Franz Beckenbauer’s line that God rejoices over every child.
