Dutch charity seeks destruction of prolific donor's sperm

A Dutch charity representing donor-conceived children has launched a civil legal case against a prolific sperm donor who claims to have fathered over 500 children.

Donorkind, a charity that seeks to represent the interests of donor children in the Netherlands, is suing a 41-year-old sperm donor for donating sperm to more families than is legally mandated in the country, and misleading behaviour to prospective parents. Dutch law states sperm donors must not have more than 25 genetic offspring, in no more than 12 families.

'If I think about the consequences this could have for my child, I am sick to my stomach,' said Eva, a mother who chose the man as a donor in 2018 to conceive a child after seeing his advert online and who is one of the families filing a complaint. '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.'

In 2017, the Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (NVOG) first warned about the defendant's excessive donation after he was found to already have fathered 102 children across ten clinics in the Netherlands. Despite being blacklisted, he continued to donate abroad, in Ukraine and Denmark, and also offered his services on social media platforms under pseudonyms, like with Eva. The defendant is believed to have donated to over 13 clinics and one of the clinics he has donated through is Danish fertility clinic Cryos International, using a pseudonym.

'We are taking action against this man because national government is doing nothing' said Donorkind chairman Ties van der Meer. 'He has a global reach via internet and he does business with large, international sperm banks.'

Expected to start in two weeks, the lawsuit requests any remaining sperm samples from the prolific donor in the clinic to be destroyed unless reserved for women who have already conceived at least one child with him. Additionally, Donorkind is demanding the donor be banned from future sperm donations with the threat of a financial penalty if he breaches that.

'His behaviour is dangerous to the mental well-being and health of donor-conceived children,' said the solicitor Mark de Hek on behalf of Donorkind. 'By privileging his reproductive urge, the donor is acting unlawfully. In addition, he violates the agreements with the clinics and prospective parents, because they trusted his promise that he would father a maximum of 25 children'.

Following a number of high profile cases in the Netherlands concerning prolific sperm donors, including doctors (see BioNews 996), the creation of a central register of sperm donors is being considered and the Dutch Parliament intends to change rules to replace the current limit, with a limit of 12 genetic offspring allowed per donor, both inside and outside of the country.