Dutchman ordered to quit donating sperm after allegedly fathering 550 kids
A man in the Netherlands, known only as 41 year old Jonathan M, was ordered by Dutch judges yesterday to quit donating sperm after he allegedly fathered over 550 children. A foundation advocating for the rights of donor children and a mother of one of the purported children took the man to court.
Dutch clinical guidelines state that a sperm donor should not father more than 25 children within 12 families. However, the court found that Jonathan M had fathered between 550 and 600 children since he began as a sperm donor in 2007, AFP reported.
As a result, Judge Thera Hesselink ruled that the defendant must discontinue sperm donations to new prospective parents. Furthermore, Jonathan M is prohibited from contacting potential parents offering to donate sperm, advertising his services, or joining any organisation facilitating contact between prospective parents.
Failure to comply with the court’s decision will result in a fine of 100,000 euros (US$110,000) for each violation, accompanied by extra fines, as ordered by the judge. Eva, a mother of one of the children involved in the case, expressed her gratitude for the court’s action to halt the “mass donations that spread like wildfire to other countries” and urged the donor to respect the ruling and leave the children alone.
According to the court, over 100 of Jonathan M’s children were born in Dutch clinics and some privately. He is also known to have donated sperm to Cryos, a Danish clinic mentioned in court documents, which then sent his sperm to private addresses in various countries. The Hague District Court stated that Jonathan M had “deliberately misinformed prospective parents about the number of children he had already fathered.” Consequently, parents now face the reality that their children are part of an extensive kinship network with hundreds of half-siblings, an outcome they did not choose.
The court deemed it “sufficiently plausible” that the situation could have negative psychosocial repercussions for the children, including identity issues and concerns about incest. Gert-Mark Smelt, a court spokesman, emphasised that the kinship network’s magnitude, comprising hundreds of half-brothers and sisters, is simply too large. The children’s interests outweigh other factors, leading to the prohibition of further sperm donations by Jonathan M. This marks the first time a judge has ruled on such a case. Lawyer Mark de Hek, who was involved in the case, expressed optimism regarding the swift addressing of this behaviour.
The Netherlands has recently experienced several fertility scandals. In 2020, a deceased gynaecologist faced accusations of conceiving at least 17 children with women who believed they were receiving sperm from anonymous donors. In 2019, a doctor from Rotterdam was found to have fathered at least 49 children while inseminating women undergoing fertility treatment.
