Image: Wired
A court in the Netherlands has ordered a 41-year-old man suspected of fathering approximately 600 children worldwide through sperm donations to cease donating. The man began donating sperm in 2007.
In 2017, the man, named Jonathan, was banned from donating to fertility clinics in the Netherlands after it emerged that he had fathered over 100 children. According to BBC reports, he misled hundreds of women. Dutch clinical guidelines state that a donor should not father more than 25 children in 12 families.
However, Jonathan found a loophole in the ruling by donating sperm outside the Netherlands and online. He is suspected of fathering over 400 more children outside the Netherlands, and is believed to have helped produce between 550 and 600 children.
“The point is that this kinship network with hundreds of half-brothers and half-sisters is much too large,” said Gert-Mark Smelt, a spokesman for the court, according to the BBC.
The court’s ruling requires Jonathan to cease donating sperm outside the country, or face a fine of over €100,000 (approximately 150 million Malawi Kwacha).
Judges in The Hague say he has helped produce between 550 and 600 children. Jonathan has been ordered to provide a list of all the clinics he has used and to have them destroy his “unused” sperm.
Judge Thera Hesselink stated that the court “prohibits the defendant from donating his semen to new prospective parents after the issuing of this judgment.”
The man is also not permitted to contact any prospective parents to donate semen.
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