A court in the Netherlands banned a sperm donor after the court suspected that he had fathered more than 550 children. In its verdict, the court said that the man could be fined more than €100,000 (more than ₹90 lakhs) if he tries to donate again. While it might sound like an alternate script of Vicky Donor, this actually happened.
The man, identified as Jonathan Jacob Meijer aged 41, had helped produce between 550 and 600 children since he started donating sperm in 2007. According to Dutch guidelines, sperm donors should not donate to more than 12 women or should not be connected to over 25 children. In 2017, he was banned from donating to fertility clinics but he continued to do so through online mediums and for clients abroad.
“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,” said Judge Hesselink in the hearing on Friday.
The court ordered Jonathan not to contact any prospective parents following the ruling. The mother of one of the children in the lawsuit said that she was grateful that this “mass donation that spread like wildfire to other countries” came to an end. On the other hand, Jonathan’s lawyers said that he simply wanted to help parents who were not able to conceive.
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