Man Who Has Fathered Tons of Is Barred From Donating Sperm

A person who has fathered between 550 and 600 kids over the previous 16 years just isn’t allowed to donate any extra sperm to potential mother and father, a court docket within the Netherlands dominated on Friday.

In accordance with The Hague District Court docket, the person lied in regards to the variety of kids he had already fathered, the variety of sperm donations he had made and his intention to donate much more sperm.

“All these mother and father are actually confronted with the truth that the youngsters of their household are a part of an enormous kinship community, with a whole bunch of half siblings, which they didn’t select,” the court docket stated.

Due to Dutch privateness legal guidelines, the federal government has not publicly named the person, Jonathan Jacob Meijer, 41, within the court docket proceedings because the donor in query. Nonetheless, in an electronic mail to The New York Occasions for a 2021 article about him, a spokesman for the well being ministry confirmed his identification. “Donors should signal an settlement with their clinic that they don’t donate sperm at different clinics,” Gerrit-Jan KleinJan wrote. “The sperm donor you might be writing about made this settlement as properly. However, he donated at extra sperm banks leading to 102 infants.”

The court docket’s ruling got here after Mr. Meijer was sued by the Dutch Donor Youngster Basis, which represents the pursuits of sperm donors’ kids, and a mom who had certainly one of his kids. “The kids deserve a relaxation,” the mom, who glided by Eva however omitted her final title, stated in an announcement on Friday.

Citing unfavorable psychological penalties for the youngsters, the court docket stated that barring Mr. Meijer from persevering with to donate was within the kids’s greatest curiosity. It will be exhausting for them to domesticate relationships with so many organic half siblings, and it provides to the next likelihood of incest, the court docket stated.

Within the Netherlands, Mr. Meijer donated sperm to at the least 11 fertility clinics, in response to court docket paperwork. Every of these clinics permits his sperm to provide 25 kids or be donated to a most of 12 moms, as is the rule within the Netherlands. Mr. Meijer additionally lied to the clinics, in response to court docket information, telling every clinic that he hadn’t donated elsewhere and wasn’t planning on doing so sooner or later.

A report from 2017 concluded that Mr. Meijer had fathered 102 kids via Dutch clinics between 2007 and 2017. Between 2015 and 2018, he additionally donated sperm to a fertility clinic in Denmark that, on the time, didn’t place a restrict on the variety of kids produced from donated sperm and that despatched semen to folks in different nations.

Along with his clinic donations, Mr. Meijer additionally supplied his sperm on varied social media platforms within the Netherlands and overseas. In accordance with the court docket, Mr. Meijer retains in contact with a number of mother and father.

The Dutch Donor Youngster Basis — which posted a picture of two clinking champagne glasses on Twitter in celebration of the decision with the phrases “vital step ahead!” — supported the ruling. “We’re completely happy that the decide dominated that it’s not a good suggestion to have numerous half-siblings,” Ester de Lau, a board member, stated.

Dutch lawmakers are within the technique of implementing new guidelines for sperm donors to guard the pursuits of the youngsters. The Dutch Home of Representatives debated the difficulty this month.

“Within the Netherlands, we expect it’s vital that everybody has info about their lineage,” in response to Ernst Kuipers, the minister of well being, welfare and sport. It has been attainable for donor kids to request such data since 2004. However the authorities needs to determine a central registry that will present whether or not a sperm donor has donated to a number of clinics.

“The brand new guidelines would discourage undesirable conditions during which sperm donors typically father a whole bunch of youngsters,” in response to the proposed invoice.

Ms. de Lau stated she supported the invoice, however that it wanted to go additional to make sure that donor kids may additionally search for any attainable personal donations and donations overseas. “The registry can begin within the Netherlands, however must be worldwide,” she stated. “This isn’t one thing that’s restricted to the Netherlands.”

Guidelines surrounding sperm donation differ throughout Europe. In Belgium, the well being minister introduced an identical registry after it grew to become clear that Mr. Meijer had additionally been energetic there.

Richard van der Zwan, Mr. Meijer’s lawyer, instructed the court docket that his shopper wished to assist mother and father who had hassle conceiving, The Related Press reported. Mr. van der Zwan couldn’t instantly be reached for touch upon Friday.

Mr. Meijer stated he was not appearing selfishly and that his continued sperm donations wouldn’t negatively have an effect on any subsequent kids, the court docket stated. However the court docket dominated that the pursuits of the youngsters and different mother and father outweighed these of Mr. Meijer’s to proceed to supply himself as a donor.