Jens Spahn resigned as leader of his party group in Germany's parliament. He is a top ally of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The resignation followed backlash over using a surrogate mother. Spahn and his husband had a baby this way.

Reports say news of the birth broke on Thursday. Spahn resigned on Saturday.

Surrogacy is banned in Germany. The birth reportedly took place in the United States.

People criticized Spahn because he once opposed surrogacy himself. As health minister in 2020 he had refused to relax the ban.

His party the CDU strongly opposes surrogacy. It voted in February to keep the ban.

This added pressure for him to quit. In his resignation letter Spahn said starting a family made his political job impossible.

Merz called the resignation correct and unavoidable. He said credibility is the top value in politics. Opposition politician Luigi Pantisano accused Spahn of a double standard.