Man who has fathered 550 kids banned by Dutch court from donating more sperm
The Dutch court has prohibited a man who has fathered over 500 children in Netherlands and other countries from donating sperm to parents and lying about the number of children he helped conceive.
According to the NBC News report, The Hague District Court ordered on Friday, April 28 the banning for the man, whose case was brought by one of the parents, identified as Eva, along with the foundation representing other parents.
Judge Thera Hesselink emphasized that the Netherlands rule which states that sperm donors are only allowed to have a maximum of 25 children with 12 mothers.
According to the court’s judgment, the sperm donor—identified as Jonathan—has donated sperm to several Dutch fertility clinics, a clinic in Denmark, and through advertisements and online forums, accumulating children over 500. His lawyer reasoned that Jonathan was only “trying to help” parents who are unable to conceive.
According to Hasselink, Jonathan "deliberately lied about this in order to persuade the parents to take him as a donor.”
"All these parents are now confronted with the fact that the children in their family are part of a huge kinship network, with hundreds of half-siblings, which they did not choose," the court statement reads.
They also highlighted that the situation could negatively affect children psychosocially, reiterating that their kinship network should “not [be] extended any further."
The court also shared in the statement that while the case was about conflicting fundamental rights, "the interests of the donor children and their parents outweigh the interest of the donor in continuing to donate sperm to new prospective parents."
To prevent any additional mass sperm donation, the court also ordered Jonathan to disclose the specific fertility clinics and sperm banks worldwide to destroy donations provided by him.
Eva welcomed the court’s judgment, saying, “I hope that this ruling leads to a ban on mass donation and spreads like an oil slick to other countries. We must stand hand in hand around our children and protect them against this injustice.”
Aside from stopping donations, Jonathan is required to pay 100,000 euros (over $110,000) per case in case he violates the ban.