Kenya-Based Dutch Sperm Donor Who Has Fathered 550 Kids Sued for Increasing Incest Risk

Popular Kenya-based Dutch sperm donor Jonathan Jacob Meijer has been sued for allegedly lying about the number of kids he has sired.

41-year-old Meijer, who is also a musician, is believed to have fathered at least 550 children around the world, according to reports.

He has donated sperm to at least 13 clinics, including 11 in the Netherlands where he was blacklisted in 2017 for fathering 102 children, the Times of London reported.

Dutch sperm donation regulations prohibit a single donor from fathering more than 25 children or impregnating more than 12 women to prevent inbreeding, incest, or psychological problems for kids who find out they have numerous siblings.

Dutch DonorKind Foundation, which has filed a civil lawsuit against him, claims Meijer, who lives in Kenya, has continued to donate sperms outside the Netherlands, including in Denmark and Ukraine.

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

The suit was brought by a Dutch woman who gave birth to one of Meijer’s kids in 2018.

“If I had known he had already fathered more than 100 children I would never have chosen this donor,” said the woman, identified as Eva.

 “When I think about the consequences this could have for my child I am sick to my stomach. Going to court is the only way to protect my child,” she added.

DonorKind attorney Mark de Hek said the court action was initiated after women repeatedly pleaded with Meijer to stop donating his sperm.

“We and some of the mothers have approached him. They have asked him to stop. He refused. This is why legal action is the only option to protect children,” he said.

The foundation wants the court to order Meijer to stop donating and to have all his stored sperm destroyed unless it is reserved for a woman who has already given birth to one of his children.

The Times of London reports that an Australian couple paid over $6,500 to Danish fertility clinic Cryos International for his sperm, which he donated under the pseudonym Ruud.

“We chose him because he was worldly, creative and very intelligent. He was open to meeting his donor children and he looks like my partner,” the Australian mother is quoted as saying.

“He won’t be stopped. I think it’s disgusting and I’m incredibly angry and disappointed. I can’t believe I have to tell my child that he has hundreds of siblings,” she added.

The publication said that the couple was told that the man’s sperm met Australian guidelines that donors can inseminate only five families.

Using his pseudonym, Meijer allegedly wrote a “motivation letter” for the Danish sperm bank, telling prospective parents that he wanted to help people realize their dreams of having kids.

Meijer was contacted by the Dutch newspaper AD and broadcaster NOS but he declined to comment.

“I like to see that there are children of mine all over the world,” the sperm donor said previously.