The Hague court has closed the case of musician Jonathan Meijer, who hit the headlines in 2017 as a “serial” sperm donor. The young man had in fact donated his sperm in various clinics in the Netherlands and in 13 other countries, thus contributing to the birth of 550 children over the course of 15 years.
From now on, the man will no longer be able to continue with his activity because he risks a fine of 100 thousand euros for each new born.
The 41-year-old was brought to court by the mother of one of the babies, probably born from his sperm, and by The Donorkind foundation, which protects the rights of children resulting from sperm donations.
According to the rules established in the Netherlands, a donor should not contribute to the birth of more than 25 babies distributed in no more than 12 families.
Interviewed by the New York Times in 2021, one of the mothers of Meijer’s children explained that she had contacted him online on a dedicated site. The figure agreed for the man’s sperm donation was 165 euros.
Judge Thera Hesselink, with the sentence, prohibited Jonathan Meijer both from donating his sperm to new aspiring parents, and from contacting any new “clients” or from “advertising his services to future parents”.
According to the District Court of The Hague “the donor deliberately misinformed the prospective parents about the number of children he had already fathered in the past and now these parents are faced with the fact that their children are part of a huge family network, with hundreds of half-brothers, who have not chosen”.