A serial sperm donor who has fathered 550 children is being sued for increasing the risk of accidental incest

• A Dutch musician is accused of fathering 550 children via sperm donations.
• The Netherlands allows donors to father no more than 25 children, citing the risk of accidental incest.

A Dutch sperm donor who is accused of fathering 550 children is facing legal action aimed at stopping him from continuing to donate, over fears his prolific giving could increase the risk of accidental incest.

Jonathan Jacob Meijer, a musician from The Hague, is being sued by the mother of one of the children he fathered, as well as Donorkind, a Dutch organization for children conceived via sperm donations.

Donorkind is alleging that Meijer donated sperm to at least 13 clinics, the majority of them in the Netherlands, as well as communicated with prospective parents on social media using an alias.

Meijer, who now lives in Kenya, was placed on a Dutch donation blacklist after the publication in 2021 of an investigation by The New York Times. But he has continued to donate his sperm abroad, including in Denmark and Ukraine, according to The Telegraph.

Donorkind said that Meijer has fathered some 550 children, which surpasses the Dutch guidelines of not being able to father more than 25 children or impregnate more than 12 mothers.

In the US, there is no enforced national limit, but the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommends a maximum of 25 live births per population area of 850,000.

These sort of guidelines exist to prevent "inbreeding" and incest, Donorkind said, adding that there is also a psychological impact on children who find out they have hundreds of half-siblings.

The mother, known only as Eva, had a child using Meijer's sperm in 2018. She claims that Meijer promised her he had only fathered a maximum of 25 donor children, per The Telegraph.

The Dutch News, which described Meijer as an "obsessive" sperm donor, said the Dutch gynecologists' society, NVOG, first issued a warning about Meijer in 2017.

Eva told Donorkind that she would not have chosen Meijer as her donor if she had known that he was a prolific donor.

She said: "When I think about the consequences this could have for my child, I get a bad gut feeling and I become uncertain about his future: how many more children will be added?"

Eva said that going to court was the only way she sees to protect her child.

The civil lawsuit is requesting that Meijer be banned from new donations, stops communicating with prospective parents, and writes to clinics that are storing his sperm to destroy it, Donorkind said.

Donorkind lawyer Mark de Hek described Meijer's behavior as "dangerous for the mental well-being and health of donor children."