Sperm Donor Who Fathered 550 Children Sued For Increasing Incest Risk

A sperm donor from The Hague, Netherlands, who has fathered around 550 children, is facing legal action as he may be increasing the risk of accidental incest. He has been accused of misleading clinics and endangering children psychologically, according to The Times.  

Jonathan Jacob Meijer, 41, donated his sperm to at least 13 clinics, with 11 of them located in the Netherlands. A musician by profession, Mr Meijer currently lives in Kenya and is being sued by a Dutch mother of one of his biological children and the DonorKind Foundation, which is representing 25 families.

As per Dutch guidelines, sperm donors should not donate to more than 12 women or should not father over 25 children. This is to prevent cases of accidental breeding and psychological problems in children who may get disturbed after learning that they have hundreds of siblings.

The DonorKind Foundation is taking legal action against Jonathan Jacob Meijer to stop him from donating sperm to more women. It also wants to know about the clinics where he has donated so far and also demands that all his donated sperm in storage be destroyed if not reserved for a mother, reported The Telegraph.

“We are taking action against this man because the government is doing nothing. He has a global reach via the internet and he does business with large, international sperm banks,” DonorKind foundation chairman Ties van der Meer told the newspaper.

Mr Meijer has been blacklisted in the Netherlands but has still donated sperm in other countries including Ukraine and Denmark, the report added quoting DonorKind.

The foundation alleged that the donor approached parents looking for home insemination through social media and did not stop his activities.

Eva, the mother who has sued Mr Meijer, said she would have never chosen him had she known that he “had already fathered more than 100 children”. She added, “If I think about the consequences this could have for my child I am sick to my stomach”.