Dutch court forbids serial sperm donor from donating more after fathering 550 children

A court in the Netherlands has forbidden a serial sperm donor from further donating his semen after it was discovered that he had fathered 550 children around the world.

The court on Friday, said the 41-year-old serial father, Jonathan Jacob Meijer, could be fined more than 100,000 Euros if he tries to donate his sperm to clinics again.

The case came to limelight after a foundation and a mother of one of the children fathered by Meijer filed a lawsuit against him in The Hague.

The trial judge who heard the civil case said Meijer “misinformed prospective parents about the number of children he had already fathered in the past.”

“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 judge said.

“The court prohibits the defendant from donating his semen to new prospective parents after the issuing of this judgement,” the judge said in the landmark ruling.

Read also:Universal sperm donor says he has fathered 150 children around the world

He also ordered the sperm donor not to contact any prospective parents “with the wish that he was willing to donate semen, advertise his services to prospective parents or join any organisation that establishes contact between prospective parents.”

During the trial, it was discovered that Meijer donated his sperm to at least 13 clinics, with 11 of them located in the Netherlands which is against the Dutch clinical guidelines which stipulates that sperm donors should not donate to more than 12 women or should not father over 25 children.

Meijer began his sperm donating spree in 2007, according to Dutch media, and by 2017, he was banned from donating to fertility clinics in the Netherlands. Instead of stopping he carried on donating sperm abroad and online.

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