A man who fathered up to 600 children around the world has been ordered to stop donating sperm by a Dutch court.
The 41-year-old Dutchman, identified by de Telegraaf newspaper as Jonathan Meijer, was forbidden to donate more semen to clinics, the court ruling said.
He could be fined 100,000 euros (£88,000) per infraction.
Judges also ordered Meijer, a musician from The Hague, to write to clinics abroad asking them to destroy any of his semen they have in stock, except doses reserved for parents who already had children by him.
The decision came after a civil case was started by a foundation representing the interests of donor children and Dutch parents who had used Meijer as a donor.
This 41-year-old Dutchman, identified by de Telegraaf newspaper as Jonathan Meijer, was forbidden to donate more semen to clinics, the court ruling said
They argued that Meijer’s continued donations violated the right to a private life of his donor children, whose ability to form romantic relationships are hampered by fears of accidental incest and inbreeding.
Meijer’s mass donations first came to light in 2017 and he was banned from donating to Dutch fertility clinics, where he had already fathered over 100 children.
However, he continued to donate abroad, including to the Danish sperm bank Cryos which operates internationally, and offered his services through websites and social media, according to the Dutch news website Algemeen Dagblad daily.
Meijer also continued to offer himself as a donor on sites matching prospective parents with sperm donors, sometimes using a different name, it said.
Mothers – with look-a-like children sporting curly blond hair and piercing blue eyes – had even begun to meet by chance. Some started online groups to find other women who had also used the same samples.
Eva, the Dutch woman at the centre of the court case, had a child by Mr Meijer in 2018 and said it made her feel ‘sick to her stomach’ that he had fathered so many other children.
Earlier this year, she said: ‘If I had known he had already fathered more than 100 children I would never have chosen him. If I think about the consequences this could have for my child I am sick to my stomach.
‘Many mothers have told him he needs to stop, but nothing helps. So going to court is the only option I have to protect my child.’
Eva and the Donorkind Foundation wanted to stop Mr Meijer donating and to find out exactly which clinics he has donated sperm to. They accused Mr Meijer of ‘lying’ to hundreds of women about the number of children he has fathered.
