Jonathan Jacob Meijer

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Jonathan Jacob Meijer (born 1981or1982) is a Dutch musician and a sperm donor, who as of 2023 resides in The Netherlands. [1] As of April 2023, he is estimated to have fathered between 550 and 600 children. [2]

Contents

Sperm donation

Meijer started giving sperm donations in 2007. [3]

In 2017, Meijer was banned from donating sperm to Dutch clinics after the Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology revealed he was the father of over 100 children in 11 different clinics. [1] [2] [4] The Dutch Donor Child Foundation determined that in addition to the 102 fathered via clinics, at least 80 additional children in the Netherlands were fathered via private arrangements. [5]

After his Dutch ban, Meijer continued donating to international clinics such as Cryos International, as well as private websites. [2]

In 2023 a civil lawsuit was lodged against Meijer by the Donorkind Foundation, requesting court action due to fears of unintentional incest amongst the children and due to violating the Dutch limit of 25 donor children. [1] Meijer's defence stated that he merely wanted to help parents who were unable to conceive, [6] and that a decision against him would amount to legal castration. [7] Meijer told the court that at present he only donates to parents who have already fathered a child with him. [8] In April 2023, a Dutch court ordered Meijer to stop donating sperm and subjected him to a 100,000 Euro fine for each future infraction. In addition Meijer was instructed by the court to request destruction of his semen stored in stock by clinics, unless held in reserve for parents of children conceived by his sperm. [2] The court determined that Meijer "deliberately misinformed" donation recipients about the number of children he had fathered. The court found that this creates a "huge kinship network, with hundreds of half-siblings" and that it is "sufficiently plausible" that the children could suffer negative psychosocial consequences as a result. [3]

On 2 July 2023, in an exclusive interview with the Brazilian weekly television news program Fantástico, Meijer admitted to tricking women who wanted to get pregnant. He also acknowledged that he lied to the families. [9] [10]

YouTube

Meijer has a YouTube channel with more than 4,500 subscribers in which he posts his music. [11]

Related Research Articles

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In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro. The process involves monitoring and stimulating a woman’s ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova from their ovaries and letting a man’s sperm fertilise them in a culture medium in a laboratory. After the fertilised egg (zygote) undergoes embryo culture for 2–6 days, it is transferred by catheter into the uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artificial insemination</span> Pregnancy through in vivo fertilization

Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment for humans, and is a common practice in animal breeding, including dairy cattle and pigs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority</span>

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body that regulates and inspects all clinics in the United Kingdom providing in vitro fertilisation (IVF), artificial insemination and the storage of human eggs, sperm or embryos. It also regulates human embryo research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sperm bank</span> Facility that purchases, stores and sells human semen

A sperm bank, semen bank, or cryobank is a facility or enterprise which purchases, stores and sells human semen. The semen is produced and sold by men who are known as sperm donors. The sperm is purchased by or for other persons for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy or pregnancies other than by a sexual partner. Sperm sold by a sperm donor is known as donor sperm.

Egg donation is the process by which a woman donates eggs to enable another woman to conceive as part of an assisted reproduction treatment or for biomedical research. For assisted reproduction purposes, egg donation typically involves in vitro fertilization technology, with the eggs being fertilized in the laboratory; more rarely, unfertilized eggs may be frozen and stored for later use. Egg donation is a third-party reproduction as part of assisted reproductive technology.

A donor offspring, or donor conceived person, is conceived via the donation of sperm or ova, or both.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It created the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority which is in charge of human embryo research, along with monitoring and licensing fertility clinics in the United Kingdom.

Donor registration facilitates donor conceived people, sperm donors and egg donors to establish contact with genetic kindred. Registries are mostly used by donor conceived people to find out their genetic heritage and to find half-siblings from the same egg or sperm donor. In some jurisdictions donor registration is compulsory, while in others it is voluntary; but most jurisdictions do not have any registration system.

Sperm donation laws vary by country. Most countries have laws to cover sperm donations which, for example, place limits on how many children a sperm donor may give rise to, or which limit or prohibit the use of donor semen after the donor has died, or payment to sperm donors. Other laws may restrict use of donor sperm for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, which may itself be banned or restricted in some way, such as to married heterosexual couples, banning such treatment to single women or lesbian couples. Donated sperm may be used for insemination or as part of IVF treatment. Notwithstanding such laws, informal and private sperm donations take place, which are largely unregulated.

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Religious response to assisted reproductive technology deals with the new challenges for traditional social and religious communities raised by modern assisted reproductive technology. Because many religious communities have strong opinions and religious legislation regarding marriage, sex and reproduction, modern fertility technology has forced religions to respond.

Accidental incest is sexual activity or marriage between persons who were unaware of a family relationship between them which would be considered incestuous.

<i>Vicky Donor</i> 2012 film by Shoojit Sircar

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Forced fatherhood or imposed paternity, occurs when a man becomes a father against his will or without his consent. It can include deception by a partner about her ability to get pregnant or use of contraceptives, birth control sabotage, paternity fraud and sexual assaults of males that result in pregnancy.

Mary Barton was a British obstetrician who, in the 1930s, founded one of the first fertility clinics in England to offer donor insemination. Throughout her career, Barton studied infertility and conception. Her pioneering research and practice were inspired by experience as a medical missionary in India, where she saw the harsh treatment of childless women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fertility fraud</span> Non-consensual fertility treatments

Fertility fraud is the failure on the part of a fertility doctor to obtain consent from a patient before inseminating her with his own sperm. This normally occurs in the context of people using assisted reproductive technology (ART) to address fertility issues.

Donald Lee Cline is a former American medical doctor of obstetrics and gynecology and convicted felon. Between 1974 and 1987, Cline sired over 90 children without disclosing himself as the sperm donor to his patients. As of May 11, 2022, Cline has been confirmed as the biological father of 94 doctor-conceived offspring.

Ari Nagel is an American mathematics professor and a sperm donor who has fathered more than 100 children as of May 2022. He has been nicknamed the Sperminator or the Target Donor, after the American retail corporation in whose stores some of his artificial-insemination donations were performed.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hume, Tim (29 March 2023). "Serial Sperm Donor Taken to Court Over Incest Fears After Fathering 550 Children". Vice. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 van Den Berg, Stephanie (28 April 2023). "Dutch court bans father of hundreds from donating sperm". Canberra Times. Reuters. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 McGarvey, Emily (29 April 2023). "Sperm donor who fathered 550 children ordered to stop". BBC. Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  4. "Dutch sperm donor fathers at least 102 children: RTL". Dutch News. 19 August 2017. Archived from the original on 3 May 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  5. Mroz, Jacqueline (1 February 2021). "The case of the serial sperm donor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  6. "Dutch court orders sperm donor to stop after 550 children". Deutsche Welle. 28 April 2023. Archived from the original on 2 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  7. Stroobants, Jean-Pierre (29 April 2023). "Dutch court orders 'Superdonor' to stop donating sperm". Le Monde. Archived from the original on 2 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  8. Ferrer, Isabel (14 April 2023). "Dutch serial sperm donor: 'I am not a mad bull with an urge to procreate'". El Pais. Archived from the original on 2023-04-28. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  9. "Alimentação exótica e gosto por mostrar os hábitos na web: o holandês doador de esperma que admitiu ter enganado mulheres". G1. 3 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  10. "Holandês doador de esperma que diz ter mais de 500 filhos admite ter enganado mulheres que queriam engravidar". G1. 2 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  11. Wen, Lok Jian (29 March 2023). "Dutch serial sperm donor who may have fathered 550 children sued over increasing risk of inbreeding". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.