Court orders semen donor to stop after fathering 550 children

Dutch judges have ordered a man suspected of fathering more than 550 children through sperm donations to stop donating, in the latest fertility scandal to shock the Netherlands.

The man, identified in Dutch media only as “Jonathan M.”, 41, was dragged 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 say a donor should not father more than 25 children in 12 families, but judges said the man had helped produce between 550 and 600 children since he started as a sperm donor in 2007.

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.