Man Who Fathered At least 550 Children Banned From Donating Sperm By Dutch Court
Despite the ban he continued to donate sperm abroad and online, sometimes using a different name.
A 41-year-old man, who fathered between 550 and 600 children in the Netherlands and other countries, has been banned from donating sperm by a Dutch court. The man, Jonathan Meijer could be fined more than 100,000 Euros (Rs 90,41,657) if he tries to donate again, reported Reuters.
The court also asked Meijer to write to clinics abroad asking them to destroy any of his semen they have in stock, except doses reserved for parents who already had children by him.
The order was passed by the court after a foundation representing the interests of donor children and Dutch parents who had used Meijer as a donor filed a civil case against him in Hague.
While passing the order on Friday the court observed, "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 prohibits the defendant from donating his semen to new prospective parents after the issuing of this judgement," the court further observed, according to BBC.
Meijer was banned from donating to Dutch fertility clinics in 2017 after it emerged he had already fathered more than 100 children since he began donating sperm in 2007.
Despite the ban he continued to donate sperm abroad and online, sometimes using a different name reported Reuters.
According to the clinical laws of the country, a donor should not father more than 25 children in 12 families.
In order to reduce the chance of siblings unknowingly forming a couple and having children together, sperm donors are told to limit their services.
The Netherlands has been hit by fertility scandals in the past. In 2019, a Dutch fertility doctor accused of using his own sperm to inseminate patients without their consent was confirmed as the father of 49 children, reported the BBC.
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