In the Netherlands, at least 85 sperm donors have fathered more than 25 children each, contravening national guidelines established to prevent involuntary incest and psychological distress among donor-conceived individuals. The Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (NVOG) acknowledged these breaches following the introduction of a new national registration system that revealed longstanding non-compliance by fertility clinics.
Since 1992, Dutch regulations have stipulated that a sperm donor should not father more than 25 children across 12 families. However, enforcement has been challenging due to strict privacy laws and the absence of a centralized tracking system. Some clinics reportedly reused sperm samples beyond the permitted number of times, exchanged sperm without proper documentation or donor consent, and allowed donors to contribute to multiple clinics, thereby circumventing the established limits.
In response to these revelations, the Dutch government implemented a national donor registry on April 1, 2025. This system retroactively covers donations dating back to 2004 and aims to ensure that donor limits are respected moving forward. The registry assigns unique codes to donors and recipients to prevent the same donor’s sperm from being used in more than the allowed number of conceptions.
The issue gained international attention following the case of Jonathan Jacob Meijer, a Dutch man who allegedly fathered between 500 and 600 children through sperm donations. In 2023, a Dutch court prohibited Meijer from making further donations and imposed a fine of €100,000 for any future violations. The court found that Meijer had deliberately misled recipients about the number of children he had fathered, creating a vast network of half-siblings and raising concerns about potential inadvertent incest.
The NVOG has issued a public apology for the failures in oversight and has emphasized the importance of adhering to donation limits to protect the well-being of donor-conceived individuals. The organization stated that the number of so-called “mass donors” should be zero and that measures are being taken to prevent such occurrences in the future.
