The language is so…what it is.
Conservative politician Jens Spahn and his husband have announced that they have become parents with the help of a surrogate mother in the US. “It’s hard to put this feeling into words.” Spahn told German mass-circulation tabloid BILD. “My husband has become a dad, and so have I. Georg is our whole world.”
With the help of? You mean she gestated and delivered this poor baby? She’s just some unimportant bystander who was nice enough to store the baby inside her body for nine months and then hand it over?
The news has sparked a political debate because such a procedure would be prohibited in Germany.
A surrogate mother makes her body available to carry a baby to term 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.
As recently as February 2026, the party passed a resolution reiterating this at their federal party convention.
“In light of ethical, legal and practical concerns regarding surrogacy, the CDU of Germany reaffirms its demand that surrogacy — including altruistic models — remain prohibited in Germany in order to prevent abuse, exploitation and health risks,” read the resolution.
Jens Spahn, Germany’s former federal Health Minister and currently leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, was present at the convention. At the time, a surrogate mother based in the US, was already pregnant with the child of Daniel Funke, Spahn’s husband.
Do what I say, not what I do, eh?
Throughout his career, Spahn has consistently expressed criticism of surrogacy. In 2015, he told GQ magazine: “As a gay man and a Christian, I personally find it very difficult to come to terms with the idea of a ‘rented womb.’”
However, he added at the time: “Accepting that I will not become a father naturally requires a great deal of humility. I don’t know if I can muster that.”
This is one major reason men have always kept women under strict control. If women are free to say no to a man who wants her to gestate his child, well, then he won’t become a father, and that’s just too much for any man to bear. They can’t always muster the will to bear it. Sorry, wims, that’s just how it is.
In 2020, the opposition neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) sought to initiate a debate on liberalizing Germany’s surrogacy laws, when Spahn was health minister. He opposed the move, citing the CDU’s familiar arguments, but also arguing that surrogacy could lead to “particular difficulties in the child’s sense of identity.” Now, he stands accused of double standards.
Gosh, ya think?
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