Jens Spahn resigned on Saturday as chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, a move triggered by the revelation that he and his husband had become parents via surrogacy in the United States. In a letter to colleagues, Spahn wrote that his “personal happiness in starting a family” had become incompatible with his political office, acknowledging that the “balancing act” between his private decision and the expectations of his role had grown larger than anticipated. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who according to government sources had urged Spahn to step down after canvassing regional party leaders, described the resignation as “right and unavoidable” and stated that “credibility is the most valuable asset in politics.”

Within the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the reaction exposed deep unease over the contradiction between Spahn’s personal choice and the party’s official stance. The CDU, at its February congress, had voted to maintain Germany’s ban on surrogacy, a position Spahn himself had publicly supported as a minister and as a backbencher. Regional party figures in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and in Merz’s own constituency of Brilon had openly demanded his departure, arguing that the credibility of the party and its local representatives was being damaged. A former deputy parliamentary group leader, Wolfgang Bosbach, warned that a prolonged debate would harm the Union, while the head of the CDU’s seniors’ group called Spahn’s decision “personally shocking.”

Opposition parties across the spectrum seized on the case to accuse Spahn and the CDU of double standards. The co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, said the episode showed that the CDU “makes rules that do not apply to itself.” The Green party’s parliamentary leader, Franziska Brantner, called the resignation “long overdue,” while the Left party’s Luigi Pantisano argued that “for ordinary people the law applies, but for top politicians it apparently only applies until they have enough money to circumvent it abroad.” The liberal FDP’s Wolfgang Kubicki described the affair as “another moral low point for the CDU.”

The resignation removes a prominent figure from the CDU’s right wing and a key architect of the coalition’s reform agenda, as acknowledged by Merz. The interim leadership passes to Alexander Hoffmann of the Bavarian CSU. Merz has indicated he will consult with CSU chairman Markus Söder and propose a successor before his own summer break begins in late July, with a vote by the parliamentary group possible during the recess. The episode injects further uncertainty into the CDU’s campaign for three eastern state elections in September, where the party trails the AfD in polls and has already faced criticism over broken fiscal promises and its handling of the far-left Linke party.