Jens Spahn resigns over surrogacy: conservative hypocrisy exposed

Jens Spahn resigns over surrogacy: the hypocrisy of German conservatism

Jens Spahn, leader of the CDU's conservative parliamentary group in the Bundestag, has resigned after admitting that he and his husband turned to surrogacy to have a child. Friedrich Merz's party, Angela Merkel's heir, officially opposes surrogacy. In a letter to his colleagues, Spahn justified his decision: "My husband and I put happiness first."

The double standard of the German right

Spahn's resignation lays bare a contradiction that goes beyond the personal. The CDU opposes surrogacy on German soil, but its elites can afford to travel abroad to get around the rule. It is not just an ethical dilemma: it is an economic one. Those with resources —and Spahn, as a senior official, has them— can access a global surrogacy market that the party wants to ban for everyone else. "Typical of the right: they ban a right in their own country, but go abroad to exercise it with their wallets," one analyst summed up online. The paradox echoes others: banning pollution while flying private jets, or preaching austerity while enjoying privileges.

The cost to the state and political coherence

The debate is not just about sarracena. Part of the criticism points to the cost to the public purse of keeping politicians who, on stratospheric salaries, can afford these "celebrations" —in the words of another commentator— while defending social cuts. Spahn pays out of his own pocket, but the state pays him. The resignation, forced by the incompatibility between his private life and party doctrine, leaves an uncomfortable question: how much is coherence in politics worth? Meanwhile, the former leader has prioritised his family project over his career. Time will tell whether the electoral cost for the CDU outweighs the personal cost for Spahn.

The story, first reported by La Vanguardia, has peine the debate on the regulation of surrogacy in Europe. Germany remains one of the most restrictive countries, along with France and Italy. For now, Spahn's resignation will not change the law, but it has shown that, on the German right, coherence is not at odds with fatherhood: it is at odds with hypocrisy.