German citizens are divided over whether surrogacy should remain banned in Germany. In a survey conducted for the "Bild" newspaper (Tuesday edition), 41 percent of respondents said they believe it is wrong that surrogacy is banned in Germany. 39 percent said the ban is right, while 20 percent did not commit to a clear position.
Broken down by party, the picture looked as follows: among supporters of the Union parties, 47 percent said the ban is right. Among SPD voters, the figure was 48 percent. By contrast, 42 percent of AfD voters, 47 percent of Left party voters, and 49 percent of FDP voters said the ban is wrong. Among Green voters, opinion was evenly split, with 43 percent saying the ban is right and 43 percent saying it is wrong.
Attention was drawn to the topic by Jens Spahn (CDU), who resigned as Union parliamentary group leader after his path to parenthood became public. He and his husband, Daniel Funke, announced that they had become parents: a surrogate mother in the United States gave birth to their son, Georg. Spahn told Bild that his husband had become a father, and that he had too, adding that Georg was their entire happiness, a feeling he said was hard to put into words.
In doing so, the couple made use of a path that remains closed off within Germany itself, a path Spahn had previously argued against. Eleven years ago, when surrogacy was last widely debated in Germany, Spahn told the magazine GQ that as a gay man and a Christian, he personally struggled to reconcile himself with the idea of a rented womb. Years later, as health minister, his ministry stated that the ban existed to protect the child's welfare by keeping motherhood legally unambiguous.
The revelation triggered a wave of outrage within the Union, which culminated in Spahn's resignation as parliamentary group leader on Saturday. He was not the only conservative CDU figure to have taken this route: fellow CDU politician Hendrik Streeck had disclosed a similar path with his own husband in April.
The backlash extended beyond Spahn's own party. Green party health policy spokesperson Janosch Dahmen accused the former health minister of double standards, given Germany's ban on surrogacy. Dahmen said he personally considers surrogacy problematic, pointing to the importance European law places on protecting the woman carrying the child from exploitation, preventing the commercialization of pregnancy and birth, and shielding the child from complex questions of parentage.
Within the Union, reactions were more measured. CSU state group leader Alexander Hoffmann wished Spahn and his family well, while stressing that Germany's legal rules on surrogacy needed no change, calling them well-founded. The CDU had already made clear on the Thursday before Spahn's resignation that it intends to uphold the ban.
Federal Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) told the outlet "The Pioneer" that the CDU had tightened its position in a February party conference resolution, which extended the party's opposition to cover so-called altruistic, unpaid surrogacy as well as commercial arrangements. Asked whether she could imagine the CDU softening that stance in the near future, she said she could hardly imagine it.
Speaking personally about the topic, Prien, herself a mother of three, said she found it unimaginably difficult, pointing to the bond that builds over nine months of pregnancy, while also acknowledging the dilemma facing couples who cannot carry a child of their own for medical reasons, regardless of whether they are heterosexual or homosexual.
Surrogacy has been banned in Germany since 1990 under the Embryo Protection Act (Embryonenschutzgesetz). Under the law, carrying out a surrogacy is a criminal offense only for the medical practitioner who transfers an embryo not genetically related to the woman carrying it for the purpose of surrogacy. Spahn and his husband don't have to fear legal consequences, as surrogacy is not prohibited in the US. It is not illegal in Germany to raise a child who was born abroad to a surrogate mother.
The survey, which included 1,004 participants, was conducted by the Insa Institute on behalf of Bild from July 17 to 20. The maximum margin of error is plus/minus 3.1 percentage points.
From breaking news to thought-provoking opinion pieces, our newsletter keeps you informed & engaged.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
