The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group Jens Spahn submitted his resignation a short while ago, under pressure from the backlash caused by the birth of his and his husband’s child via a surrogate mother in the U.S.

“I have realized that my personal happiness in starting a family is incompatible with my political office. “Striking a balance between my personal decision to have a child through surrogacy and the understandable expectations placed on me as chairman of our parliamentary group has become more difficult than I anticipated,” Mr. Span writes in a letter obtained by ARD, Germany’s public television network.

Earlier, Jens Spahn had informed both the chancellor and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, and the leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Markus Söder, thanking them for their trust.

In his letter, Mr. Spahn cited the “ongoing debate” surrounding the way in which he became a father, as surrogacy is prohibited in Germany.

The pressure for him to resign was steadily increasing and came mainly from within his own party. Furthermore, most German media outlets spoke of “double standards” on the part of the former parliamentary group leader, since he—both in his current position and previously as Minister of Health— had repeatedly spoken out against the process of having a child through a surrogate mother, even referring to the woman carrying a child on behalf of others as a “rental womb.”

“Jens Spahn places himself above German law,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote today, by way of example, while the Deputy Government Spokesperson, facing a barrage of questions yesterday, limited himself to stating that the Chancellor had congratulated Jens Spahn on the birth of his child.

According to BILD, Mr. Merz called on his colleague to resign during a phone conversation they had earlier today, as the Chancellor is currently in his home region of Sauerland, from where he will give his customary “summer” television interview tomorrow. Earlier, Friedrich Merz had spoken with leaders of local party organizations, to gauge the mood among the party’s rank and file, and the overall picture, according to the newspaper, was negative.

Source: KYPE