Got carried away: a Dutch sperm donor who became the father of 550 children was sued

A court in the Netherlands will consider the case of a musician from The Hague, Jonathan Jacob Meyer, who is accused of being a sperm donor, he became the father of 550 children. The lawsuit was filed by the mother of one of his children and the Dutch organization for the protection of children conceived with the help of donor sperm, Donorkind. They are trying to ban Meyer from continuing to donate sperm for fear that his fertility could lead to accidental incest, Business Insider reports.According to Donorkind, Meyer donated sperm to at least 13 clinics, most of them Dutch.

In 2017, the Dutch Society of Gynecologists issued a warning regarding the donor, and in 2021, an article about him was published by the New York Times. After that, Meyer was blacklisted in his native country, but he continued to donate sperm abroad, including in Denmark and Ukraine. He now lives in Kenya.

According to existing laws in the Netherlands, men are prohibited from becoming fathers of more than 25 children or impregnating more than 12 mothers. Such restrictions are designed to prevent the possibility of incest, representatives of Donorkind say. In addition, there is a danger that children who find out that they have hundreds of half-brothers and sisters will experience psychological stress.

A woman named Eva, who filed her lawsuit at the same time as Donorkind, gave birth to a baby using Meyer's sperm in 2018. According to her, Meyer claimed that he had a maximum of 25 children. If she had known the truth, Eva says, she would never have chosen this person as a donor. "When I think about the consequences this could have for my child, I feel sick," Eva says. – And how many more children will be born?" Going to court is the only way to protect your child, Eva believes.

The civil lawsuit demands to prohibit Meyer from donating his sperm, as well as to require him to stop communicating with potential parents of his children and ask the clinics that store his biomaterial to destroy it. Representatives of Donorkind call Meyer's behavior "dangerous for the mental well-being and health of children conceived using donor sperm".