THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court docket on Friday banned a person from donating any extra of his sperm after he fathered at the very least 550 kids within the Netherlands and different nations and misled potential dad and mom concerning the variety of offspring he helped to conceive.
A choose at The Hague District Courtroom ordered the halt in an injunction introduced by the mom of a kid conceived with the donor’s sperm and a basis representing different dad and mom.
The mom, recognized by the muse solely as Eva, welcomed the court docket’s determination.
“I hope that this ruling results in a ban on mass donation and spreads like an oil slick to different nations. We should stand hand in hand round our youngsters and shield them towards this injustice,” she mentioned in an announcement.
The court docket famous that underneath Dutch tips, sperm donors are allowed to supply a most of 25 kids with 12 moms and that the donor lied to potential dad and mom about his donation historical past.
The donor, recognized as Jonathan M. underneath Dutch privateness tips, supplied sperm to a number of Dutch fertility clinics and to a clinic in Denmark in addition to to many different folks he linked with via commercials and on-line boards, the court docket mentioned in its written judgment.
The donor’s lawyer mentioned in a court docket listening to that he wished to assist dad and mom who would in any other case be unable to conceive.
The choose who heard the civil case mentioned that the donor “intentionally lied about this in an effort to persuade the dad and mom to take him as a donor,” the court docket mentioned in an announcement.
“All these dad and mom are actually confronted with the truth that the youngsters of their household are a part of an enormous kinship community, with lots of of half-siblings, which they didn’t select,” the court docket mentioned, including that this “has or may presumably have detrimental psychosocial penalties for the youngsters. It’s due to this fact of their curiosity that this kinship community shouldn’t be prolonged any additional.”
The court docket mentioned in an announcement that the case was about “conflicting elementary rights. On the one hand, the fitting to respect for the privateness of the dad and mom and the donor kids … and alternatively, the identical proper of the donor.”
The court docket dominated that “the pursuits of the donor kids and their dad and mom outweigh the curiosity of the donor in persevering with to donate sperm to new potential dad and mom.”
The court docket ordered him instantly to halt all donations and mentioned he should pay 100,000 euros ($110,000) per case if he breaches the ban.
Lawyer Mark de Hek known as the ruling “a transparent sign and, so far as I’m involved, a ultimate warning to different mass donors.”