A person who has fathered between 550 and 600 youngsters over the previous 16 years will not be allowed to donate any extra sperm to potential dad and mom, a court docket within the Netherlands dominated on Friday.

Based on The Hague District Courtroom, the person lied concerning the variety of youngsters he had already fathered, the variety of sperm donations he had made and his intention to donate much more sperm.

“All these dad and mom at the moment are confronted with the truth that the kids of their household are a part of an enormous kinship community, with tons of of half siblings, which they didn’t select,” the court docket stated.

Due to Dutch privateness legal guidelines, the federal government has not publicly named the person, Jonathan Jacob Meijer, 41, within the court docket proceedings because the donor in query. Nevertheless, in an electronic mail to The New York Occasions for a 2021 article about him, a spokesman for the well being ministry confirmed his id. “Donors should signal an settlement with their clinic that they don’t donate sperm at different clinics,” Gerrit-Jan KleinJan wrote. “The sperm donor you’re writing about made this settlement as effectively. Nonetheless, he donated at extra sperm banks leading to 102 infants.”

The court docket’s ruling got here after Mr. Meijer was sued by the Dutch Donor Youngster Basis, which represents the pursuits of sperm donors’ youngsters, and a mom who had considered one of his youngsters. “The youngsters deserve a relaxation,” the mom, who glided by Eva however omitted her final identify, stated in a press release on Friday.

Citing adverse psychological penalties for the kids, the court docket stated that barring Mr. Meijer from persevering with to donate was within the youngsters’s greatest curiosity. It will be laborious for them to domesticate relationships with so many organic half siblings, and it provides to the next likelihood of incest, the court docket stated.

Within the Netherlands, Mr. Meijer donated sperm to at the very least 11 fertility clinics, in line with court docket paperwork. Every of these clinics permits his sperm to provide 25 youngsters or be donated to a most of 12 moms, as is the rule within the Netherlands. Mr. Meijer additionally lied to the clinics, in line with court docket data, telling every clinic that he hadn’t donated elsewhere and wasn’t planning on doing so sooner or later.

A report from 2017 concluded that Mr. Meijer had fathered 102 youngsters by Dutch clinics between 2007 and 2017. Between 2015 and 2018, he additionally donated sperm to a fertility clinic in Denmark that, on the time, didn’t place a restrict on the variety of youngsters produced from donated sperm and that despatched semen to folks in different international locations.

Along with his clinic donations, Mr. Meijer additionally supplied his sperm on varied social media platforms within the Netherlands and overseas. Based on the court docket, Mr. Meijer retains in contact with a number of dad and mom.

The Dutch Donor Youngster Basis — which posted an image of two clinking champagne glasses on Twitter in celebration of the decision with the phrases “essential step ahead!” — supported the ruling. “We’re comfortable that the choose dominated that it’s not a good suggestion to have numerous half-siblings,” Ester de Lau, a board member, stated.

Dutch lawmakers are within the means of implementing new guidelines for sperm donors to guard the pursuits of the kids. The Dutch Home of Representatives debated the difficulty this month.

“Within the Netherlands, we predict it’s essential that everybody has info about their lineage,” in line with Ernst Kuipers, the minister of well being, welfare and sport. It has been doable for donor youngsters to request such info since 2004. However the authorities desires to ascertain a central registry that may present whether or not a sperm donor has donated to a number of clinics.

“The brand new guidelines would discourage undesirable conditions wherein sperm donors typically father tons of of youngsters,” in line with the proposed invoice.

Ms. de Lau stated she supported the invoice, however that it wanted to go additional to make sure that donor youngsters might additionally lookup any doable non-public donations and donations overseas. “The registry can begin within the Netherlands, however must be worldwide,” she stated. “This isn’t one thing that’s restricted to the Netherlands.”

Guidelines surrounding sperm donation range throughout Europe. In Belgium, the well being minister introduced an analogous registry after it turned clear that Mr. Meijer had additionally been lively there.

Richard van der Zwan, Mr. Meijer’s lawyer, instructed the court docket that his consumer needed to assist dad and mom who had bother conceiving, The Related Press reported. Mr. van der Zwan couldn’t instantly be reached for touch upon Friday.

Mr. Meijer stated he was not appearing selfishly and that his continued sperm donations wouldn’t negatively have an effect on any subsequent youngsters, the court docket stated. However the court docket dominated that the pursuits of the kids and different dad and mom outweighed these of Mr. Meijer’s to proceed to supply himself as a donor.