German ex-Health Ministers Resigns For Having Baby Thru Surrogacy

German ex-Health Minister Jens Spahn

Monowara Begum Moni

Senior CDU politician Jens Spahn, 46-year-old former health minister of Germany and a key ally of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, resigned as leader of the conservative parliamentary group in July 2026 after announcing he and his husband (homosexual) had a baby via surrogacy in the United States.

German law states that the legal mother is strictly the woman who gives birth to the child, regardless of genetics. Surrogacy contracts are legally void. The law states clearly that a child's mother is the woman who gives birth to the child. No matter what.

Surrogacy is a process in which a woman carries and delivers a child for a couple or individual, and is typically paid for doing so. Spahn's party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is staunchly opposed to making this legal in Germany.

Jens Spahn, stepped down amid a controversy surrounding his decision to have a child via a surrogate mother. He had opposed legalizing surrogacy during his ministership, in Germany. 

Following a heated debate surrounding the issue, Spahn stated: "In recent days, I have come to realize that my personal happiness in starting a family and becoming a father with my husband is incompatible with my political office. The balancing act between my private decision to have a child via surrogacy and the understandable expectations placed on me as chairman of our parliamentary group has proven more difficult than I had anticipated.

Spahn is one of the most powerful figures in the CDU and has survived other political scandals – like Mask deal during the corona virus time, but this proved one too many for his party. Minister Spahn was embroiled in a scandal: during the corona virus pandemic, the federal government of Germany purchased 5.7 billion face masks for 5.9 billion Euros. However, only two billion of them were distributed to the public. More than half went unused and were subsequently destroyed.

Other EU countries including France, Spain and Italy also ban surrogacy, which involves a woman carrying a baby and giving birth on behalf of parents unable to have children themselves.