A Dutch court has banned a sperm donor from donating sperm. The donor has been identified as Jonathan Jacob Meijer, 41. Reports are telling that Jonathan has so far fathered 550 children by donating sperm. Whereas according to the rules of the Netherlands, any sperm donor can give sperm to 12 mothers for 25 children.
Jonathan is a musician by profession and lives in Kenya. After the decision of the court, if he has given his semen in any clinic, then he will have to be asked to destroy that too. The court said that if the accused does not agree, then a fine of $ 110,000 will be imposed on him. It is being told that he gave his sperm at 13 clinics. Of these, 11 were from the Netherlands.
According to a New York Times report, Jonathan is accused of not telling prospective parents to how many people he had given his sperm to before donating his sperm. In 2018, he did this with a woman named Eva. When Eva came to know the truth, it became a matter of concern for her. He filed a petition with the Hague District Court. Eva argued that when her child comes to know that he has 550 siblings, what will be the effect on his state of mind.
Eva said that if she had known that Jonathan had already become a father by donating sperm more than 500 times, she would never have chosen him as a donor. During the case, Jonathan’s lawyer argued that his client only wanted to help needy parents.
However, the court said that the donor had deliberately lied to persuade the parents. The court gave its verdict considering the demand of the petitioner. After the verdict, the petitioner said, “I hope that this verdict will ban sperm donation on a large scale and the same will happen in other countries.”
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