A Dutch judge has ordered a man suspected of fathering more than 550 children from sperm donation to stop sperm donation. This happened in the latest infertility scandal that shocked the Netherlands. The man, identified only as “Jonathan M.”, 41, was brought to court by a foundation protecting the rights of donor children and the mother of one of the children allegedly fathered from his sperm.
Dutch clinical guidelines state that a single donor should not father fewer than 25 children in 12 families, but a judge ruled that a man could have donated sperm in 2007. Additionally, the man helped father 550 to 600 children in 16 years.
The court, therefore,
“prohibits the defendant from donating his semen to new prospective parents after the issuing of this judgement”, judge Thera Hesselink said on Friday.
Jonathan M. may also not 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,” Hesselink said in a written judgement.
Should he continue with his donations, he would face a 100,000-euro ($110,000) fine for every transgression, as well as additional fines, the judge ordered.
The mother of one of the children in the court case, identified only as “Eva”, said she was grateful that the court stopped the man from –
“mass donations that’s spread like wildfire to other countries”.
“I’m asking the donor to respect our interests and to accept the verdict, because our children deserve to be left alone,” she said in a statement.
cc: Punch Ng
