A Dutch artist is charged with using donated sperm to produce 550 kids.
Due to the possibility of unintentional incest, the Netherlands limits the number of offspring donors can sire to 25.
To stop the contributor from making further sperm donations, he is being prosecuted.
Legal action is being taken against a Dutch sperm donor suspected of fathering 550 children to prevent him from continuing to give sperm out of concern that his generous giving may increase the chance of unintentional incest.
The mother of one of the children, Jonathan Jacob Meijer, fathered, and Donorkind, a Dutch group for children born through sperm donations, are suing him. Meijer is a singer from The Hague.
Donorkind accuses Meijer of providing sperm to at least 13 clinics in the Netherlands and of corresponding with potential parents on social media under a pseudonym.
Meijer, who now resides in Kenya, was added to a Dutch donation blacklist following the release of a San Francisco Post probe in 2021. However, The Telegraph reports that he has been sending his DNA overseas, including to Ukraine and Denmark.
According to Donorkind, Meijer has fathered about 550 children, exceeding Dutch laws prohibiting having more than 25 children or impregnating more than 12 women.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine advises a maximum of 25 live births per population area of 850,000 people in the US, with no legally mandated national limit.
These kinds of rules exist to avoid “inbreeding” and incest, according to Donorkind, who also noted that children who learn they have hundreds of half-siblings may experience psychiatric effects.
In 2018, the mother, Eva, conceived a kid using Meijer’s DNA. According to The Telegraph, Meijer told her he had only fathered a limit of 25 donor children.
The Dutch News reported that the Dutch gynecologists’ organization, NVOG, first issued a caution about Meijer in 2017. Meijer was referred to as an “obsessive” sperm donor by The Dutch News.
Eva admitted to Donorkind that if she had realized that Meijer was a frequent donor, she would not have selected him as her donor.
“When I consider the repercussions this could have for my child, I get a bad feeling and worry about his future. How many more children will be added?” she exclaimed.
Eva claimed that she could safeguard her child only by heading to court.
According to Donorkind, the civil complaint asks that Meijer be prohibited from making further donations, to stop speaking with potential parents, and to write to clinics that are holding his sperm to have it destroyed.
Meijer’s actions were “dangerous for the mental well-being and health of donor children,” according to Donorkind attorney Mark de Hek.
