Court Orders Kenya-Based Dutch Sperm Donor Who Has Fathered 550 Kids to Stop Donating

A Dutch man suspected of fathering more than 550 children through sperm donations has been barred from making further donations.

Jonathan Jacob Meijer, who lives in Kenya, was ordered to stop semen donations by a Dutch court on Friday following a case filed against him by a foundation protecting the rights of donor children and the mother of one of the children allegedly fathered from his sperm.

While issuing an order prohibiting him from donating his semen to new prospective parents, Judge Thera Hesselink said the defendant had helped produce between 550 and 600 children since he started as a sperm donor in 2007.

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.

The judge further barred the 41-year-old from contacting any prospective parents “with the wish that he was willing to donate semen… advertise his services to prospective parents or join any organization that establishes contact between prospective parents.”

Should he continue with his donations, he would face a 100,000-euro ($110,000) fine for every transgression, as well as additional fines, the judge ordered.

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

“More than 100 of Jonathan M.’s children were born in Dutch clinics and others privately, but he also donated semen to a Danish clinic named Cryos in court papers, which then dispatched his seed to private addresses in various countries,” the judge added.

In a separate statement, Hague District Court said, “The donor deliberately misinformed prospective parents about the number of children he had already fathered in the past.” 

“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 added.

The court considered it “sufficiently plausible” that this has or could have negative psychosocial consequences for the children including psychological problems around identity and fears of incest.