Court orders semen donor to stop after fathering 550 children
In the latest fertility scandal to rock the Netherlands, a judge has ordered a man suspected of fathering over 550 children through sperm donations to stop donating.
The man, identified as "Jonathan M." in Dutch media, was dragged to court by a foundation protecting the rights of donor children and the mother of one of the children allegedly fathered by his sperm.
In accordance with Dutch clinical guidelines, a sperm donor should not father more than 25 children in 12 families, but the man had helped produce between 550 and 600 children since 2007 when he began donating sperm.
Judge Thera Hesselink stated on Friday that the court "prohibits the defendant from donating his sperm to new prospective parents after the issuance of this judgment."
Hesselink stated in a written ruling that Jonathan M. may not contact prospective parents "with the desire that he was willing to donate sperm... advertise his services to prospective parents or join any organization that establishes contact between prospective parents."
The judge ordered that if he continued to make donations, he would face a 100,000-euro ($110,000) fine for each violation, as well as additional fines.
The mother of one of the children involved in the court case, identified only as "Eva," expressed gratitude to the court for preventing the man from making "massive donations that spread like wildfire in other countries."
"I'm asking the donor to respect our interests and accept the verdict, because our children deserve to be left alone," she said in a statement.
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