According to The Hague District Court, the man told lies about the number of children he has already fathered, the times he donated sperm, and even about his intention to donate more sperm.
A court in the Netherlands ruled that a man who fathered at least 550 children in the past 16 years had lied to prospective mothers and fertility clinics.
The Case of the Serial Sperm Donor
One man, hundreds of children and a burning question: Why?
Credit.Keith Negley
In 2015, Vanessa van Ewijk, a carpenter in the Netherlands, decided that she wanted to have a child. She was 34 and single, and so, like many women, she sought out a sperm donor.
She considered conceiving through a fertility clinic, but the cost was prohibitive for her. Instead, she found an ideal candidate through a website called Desire for a Child, one of a growing number of online sperm markets that match candidate donors directly with potential recipients. Ms. van Ewijk was drawn to one profile in particular, that of Jonathan Jacob Meijer, a Dutch musician in his 30s.