Man who fathered at least 550 children permanently banned from donating sperm by Dutch court
A court has banned a man from donating any more of his sperm after he fathered at least 550 children in the Netherlands and other countries and misled prospective parents about the number of offspring he helped to conceive.
A Dutch judge at The Hague District Court made the decision Friday after an injunction was brought by the mother of a child conceived with the donor’s sperm and a foundation representing other parents.
The court did not release the full name of the donor citing Dutch privacy laws.
Identifying him only as Jonathan M., the donor provided sperm to Dutch fertility clinics, to a clinic in Denmark and to other people he connected with through advertisements and online forums, the court wrote in its judgment obtained by the Associated Press.
In a court hearing, the donor’s lawyer said his client wanted to help parents who could not conceive.
The judge who heard the civil case said that the donor “deliberately lied about this in order to persuade the parents to take him as a donor,” the court said in a statement.
“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 wrote.
Under Dutch law, sperm donors are allowed to produce a maximum of 25 children with 12 mothers. The court reported the donor lied to prospective parents about his donation history.
The Hague District Court could not immediately be reached by Paste BN on Friday afternoon.
Hope ruling 'spreads like an oil slick'
The mother who brought the case to authorities' attention, said she welcomed the court's decision.
"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,” the woman, identified only as Eva, said in a statement.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for Paste BN. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.