Dutch court orders man who fathered 550 kids to stop donating sperm

A Dutch judge has ordered a “mass sperm donor” who’s already fathered at least 550 children to stop donating.

The man donated sperm in the Netherlands and abroad, including to Danish sperm bank Cryos, but also offered his sperm up via online platforms.

He donated to at least 11 Dutch fertility clinics, which imposed a maximum of 25 children in 12 families per donor, while making false promises that he hadn’t offered his sperm elsewhere and wouldn’t do so in the future. In 2017, it was discovered that he’d already fathered 102 children via those clinics.

The judge ruled that the man “deliberately lied to get parents to pick him as a donor,” knowing full well that they wouldn’t have chosen him if they’d known how many children he’d already helped conceive.

The man claimed he was acting in the interests of prospective parents, who he wanted to help.