Jonathan Jacob Meijer

Last updated

Jonathan Jacob Meijer (born 19 May 1981) is a sperm donor, born in the Netherlands. [1] As of April 2023, a Dutch court estimated that Meijer had fathered between 500 and 600 children, [2] and may have fathered up to 1,000 children in total across several continents. [3]

Contents

Sperm donation

Meijer started giving sperm donations in 2007. [4]

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] [5] 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. [6]

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, [7] and that a decision against him would amount to legal castration. [8] Meijer told the court that at present he only donates to parents who have already fathered a child with him. [9] 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. [4]

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. [10] [11]

In July 2024, Netflix released a three-episode documentary series about Meijer, entitled The Man with 1,000 Kids. [12] On July 5, Meijer uploaded a YouTube video admitting he watched the first part of the Netflix docuseries. He stated he had filed a slander report about claims he swapped or mixed sperm with another donor, Leon. [13]

On 3 September 2024, in an interview with the talk show "Eva" from the NPO 1 broadcaster in the Netherlands, Meijer said that he has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, the developer of the program. "Five hundred and fifty. That's the number I know for sure. Anything above that is just speculation," Meijer said, referring to the number of children he has fathered from sperm donations. As the name of the Netflix series suggests, "The Man with a Thousand Children" presents another version of the case. The accounts presented their claim that Meijer fathered at least 1,000 babies and suggest that the number could be as high as 3,000. [14]

YouTube

Meijer has a YouTube channel in which he posts his music as well as spiritual and lifestyle vlogs. [15] The channel held 4,500 subscribers [15] in March 2023 and most recently had 24,500 subscribers as of November 2024 following the Netflix docuseries.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In vitro fertilisation</span> Assisted reproductive technology procedure

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an egg is combined with sperm in vitro. The process involves monitoring and stimulating a woman's ovulatory process, then removing an ovum or ova from her ovaries and enabling a man's sperm to fertilise them in a culture medium in a laboratory. After a 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 allocates 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.

The main family law of Japan is Part IV of Civil Code. The Family Register Act contains provisions relating to the family register and notifications to the public office.

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.

Fertility tourism is the practice of traveling to another country or jurisdiction for fertility treatment, and may be regarded as a form of medical tourism. A person who can become pregnant is considered to have fertility issues if they are unable to have a clinical pregnancy after 12 months of unprotected intercourse. Infertility, or the inability to get pregnant, affects about 8-12% of couples looking to conceive or 186 million people globally. In some places, rates of infertility surpass the global average and can go up to 30% depending on the country. Areas with lack of resources, such as assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), tend to correlate with the highest rates of infertility.

Sperm donation is the provision by a man of his sperm with the intention that it be used in the artificial insemination or other "fertility treatment" of one or more women who are not his sexual partners in order that they may become pregnant by him. Where pregnancies go to full term, the sperm donor will be the biological father of every baby born from his donations. The man is known as a sperm donor and the sperm he provides is known as "donor sperm" because the intention is that the man will give up all legal rights to any child produced from his sperm, and will not be the legal father. Sperm donation may also be known as "semen donation".

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

Vicky Donor is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Shoojit Sircar and produced by actor John Abraham in his maiden production venture with Sunil Lulla under Eros International and Ronnie Lahiri under Rising Sun Films. The film stars Ayushmann Khurrana and Yami Gautam, with Annu Kapoor and Dolly Ahluwalia in pivotal roles. The concept is set against the background of sperm donation and infertility within a Bengali-Punjabi household. Both Ayushmann and Yami made their film debut through this film.

<i>Seed</i> (TV series) 2013 Canadian TV series or program

Seed is a Canadian single-camera sitcom television series. The series starred Adam Korson as Harry Dacosta, sperm donor, and followed his interactions with new-found relatives that had been conceived from the donation.

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.

Roger Abdelmassih is a Brazilian former physician, an expert on human reproduction, and one of the pioneers of in-vitro fertilization in Brazil. In early 2009 he was accused of sexually abusing sedated patients. Abdelmassih was sentenced to 278 years in prison for 52 rapes and 39 attempted sexual abuses on women.

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.

Cryos International is a sperm and egg bank in Aarhus, Denmark. It was founded in 1987 by Ole Schou. The bank has an outpost in Florida in the United States. Both countries allow anonymity of donors. The bank delivers to more than 100 countries. Lesbian couples and single women made up 60% of clients as of September 2017 and sperm prices varied between €40 ($48) and €1,600.

California Cryobank is a sperm bank in California, United States, one of the two biggest in the world. There are offices in Palo Alto, Los Angeles, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New York. According to the company in 2018, they had about 600 donors and 75,000 registered live births since 1977. Since 2018, they no longer accept anonymous donations. They offer a service to choose sperm from donors who resemble celebrities. When they reach the age of 18 children conceived through sperm donation can ask for information about their biological fathers. The bank also offers sperm of donors who have deceased, and co-founder Cappy Rothman was the first physician who extracted sperm post mortem. In 2016, it was estimated that there had been 200 such cases.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ari Nagel</span> American mathematician and sperm donor

Ari Nagel is an American mathematics professor and a sperm donor who has fathered more than 165 children as of June 2024. 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 more than 1000 Children worldwide". 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. ↑ McIntosh, Steven (2024-07-03). "Sperm donor says Netflix series is misleading". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  4. 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.
  5. ↑ "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.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ "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.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ "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.
  11. ↑ "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.
  12. ↑ Sager, Jessica (July 3, 2024). "Who Is 'The Man With 1,000 Kids'? All About Serial Sperm Donor Jonathan Meijer at Center of New Netflix Series". People. Retrieved July 3, 2024.
  13. ↑ Mercuri, Monica. "Jonathan Jacob Meijer Threatens To Sue Netflix For 'The Man With 1000 Kids'". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
  14. ↑ "Doador de esperma que inspirou 'O Homem Com Mil Filhos' diz que processou Netflix por série". G1 (in Portuguese). 5 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  15. 1 2 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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.