A Dutch man believed to have fathered over 500 children has been formally banned from donating sp+rm over fears that he is increasing the risk of accidental inc£st among his spawn.
41-year-old Jonathan Jacob Meijer (M),was forbidden by a Dutch court on Friday from continuing to donate his s£m£n to clinics. Meijer, a musician, is also required to ask clinics in other countries to destr#y any of his s£m£n they may still have, excluding samples previously reserved by patients who already conceived children with him.
Meijer was taken to court by a donor children rights NGO and the mother of a kid he allegedly fathered. UK Guardian reports that Dutch guidelines say a donor mustn’t father more than 25 children in 12 families. But at the court sitting on M’s case, the judges said the man had helped produce between 550 and 600 children.
In the scandal, it was revealed that more than 100 of M’s children were born in Dutch clinics and others privately. He also donated to a Danish clinic which then dispatched his s£m£n to private addresses in various countries.
“The donor deliberately misinformed prospective parents about the number of children he had already fathered in the past,” the district court in The Hague said. “All these parents are now confronted with the fact that the children in their family are part of a huge kinship network, with hundreds of half-siblings, which they did not choose.” It was said that M, who lives in the Netherlands, started donating sp+rm in 2007.
The court, in its verdict, prohibited the defendant from donating his semen to any more prospective parents. Thera Hesselink, the presiding judge in the case, said M may also not contact any prospective parents with the wish that he was willing to donate s£m£n or advertise his services to prospective parents.
The judge further stated that he must not join organisations that establish contact between prospective parents. Hasselink said he would face an £88,000 fine for each transgression and additional fines if he flouts the order.
