“We have to stop this man”: mass sperm donor fathered 121 kids

A Dutch man has fathered at least 121 children as a sperm donor and is still active, according to an investigation by current affairs programme Nieuwsuur – the latest in a line of mass donors who exploit a gap in the legal rules by working outside licensed clinics.

The man, who is 43 and from the Groningen region, donated to several sperm banks but operates mainly online, approaching women directly. Investigators spoke to dozens of affected mothers, and said the true figure is probably far higher.

They also found that the man sat on a government commission that evaluated the Dutch donor law in 2019. It is unclear how or why he was appointed.

Dutch clinics may not use a single donor for more than 12 families. But donors and would-be parents who arrange conception privately are bound by no legal maximum, a gap that lets a determined donor father dozens or hundreds of children unchecked. Nieuwsuur revealed last year that clinics had produced at least 85 mass donors.

The health and youth care inspectorate IGJ, part of the health ministry, said it did not know the man and called the case “very undesirable”. But a spokesperson said the inspectorate oversees care provided in clinics, not conception arranged in the private sphere.

Evasive behaviour 
The donor children’s foundation Stichting Donorkind and several of the mothers want him to stop. “We have to stop this man,” they told the programme.

The mothers say he lies about how many children he has fathered, growing evasive or hinting he will break off contact when pressed – leverage that matters to women who want their child to be able to know their biological father one day.

Some of the women told Nieuwsuur he sent them sexually suggestive messages, offering to help conceive via the “natural method.” One mother from the Randstad who tried to report him said the police were no help. “The police just stared at me blankly,” she said.

Traces abroad
There are also signs that the same man has fathered children abroad. One mother traced several children in Germany through an online DNA database, and the man has donated at a Danish sperm bank.

The man declined to be interviewed, saying he wanted any contact to run anonymously through the mothers or official bodies. He asked for privacy for himself and the families, and would not confirm how many children he has conceived.

The most notorious Dutch case remains that of Jonathan Meijer, who fathered some 550 children worldwide and was ordered by a court to stop in 2023.