Joe-Lize's review: Netflix documentary shows the nightmare of 1000 donor kids

Stay up to date with Christian news in Europe? Sign up for CNE's newsletter.

When you are lesbian, a single woman, or you have a husband who underwent a vasectomy, you have one thing in common: you need another man to provide you with his genes to conceive a child. For the people in the movie "The Man with 1000 Kids", this situation is real.

It is remarkably easy to find a sperm donor, CNE.news discovered. There are websites where potential donors and intended parents can post a request and find each other. The website Verlangen naar een kind, where parents in the documentary found their sperm donor, is still online. It provides intended parents with the personal e-mail addresses of potential donors so they can directly contact these men.

In their search for a man to father their children, they meet someone with "super sperm". He looks strong, has beautiful curls and a big smile. Perfect, right?

Judge blocks Dutch father of hundreds donating more sperm

28-04-2023

Half-siblings

No sooner said than done. Donor Jonathan Jacob Meijer seems to be flexible and does his utmost to fulfil the wishes of the intended parents. He is willing to travel to their houses and donate there, or parents can pick up his sperm somewhere else. Others buy his seed via a sperm clinic in Denmark. The result? A beautiful blonde baby for each family. One after the other.

But the story does not end there. Because slowly, parents who used Jonathan's sperm discover that their child has multiple half-siblings. Mother Nicolette, for example, learns that her colleague at the kindergarten where she worked also had a child with the same donor. And a couple of years later, another colleague noticed that their children looked very much alike. "They are blond and have the same eyebrows, nose and ears. That's when I found out that they used Jonathan as well", they tell in the Netflix documentary The Man with 1000 kids.

Bleach Africa

It is the start of a disaster. Jonathan's children keep popping up everywhere. In the Netherlands, but also in Australia, Argentina, Kenia and basically in all European countries. The number grows from three to five –the number that Jonathan initially mentioned– to hundreds and potentially thousands of children worldwide.

Facebook groups with parents who used Jonathan's seed grow exponentially, according to the Netflix documentary. Parents are worried about one thing: How many siblings are there? And how likely is it that they will meet each other or even fall in love with each other?

Six questions about the Dutch sperm gate: this is just the beginning

11-02-2022

It seems that the chance of that should not be marginalised. Sisters, colleagues and cousins discover that their children have the same father. Just imagine the situation if you look at it worldwide...

The consequences can be disastrous, the documentary shows. Children can meet each other without knowing they are related. And because they share so many similarities, they often feel an instant connection. There is even a term for it: the Luke and Leia complex. Children who are not brought up together are more likely to be attracted to each other because they see some familiarities in the face of their sibling, says Natalie, one of the mothers in the documentary. And the more children a donor fathers, the more likely it is they will meet each other.

The longer you watch the documentary, the more bizarre it becomes. For some sperm donors, it seems to be a sport to procreate as much as possible. Others want to use their genes to "bleach Africa". There is even said to be a game in which donors mix their sperm for fun. Too bad the directors of the movie were unable to talk to any of the donors to confirm this.

Puppies

And there are currently almost no regulations for sperm donors, Eve Wiley, herself a victim of fertility fraud, says in the movie. Some countries have limits of how many children a donor can father. But sperm banks go to other countries to sell the sperm if they reach a limit in one country. And there are no rules about donating sperm privately either. “Breeding livestock and puppies is more regulated than sperm donation and the fertility industry”, Wiley complains. “How do you stop these guys? How can Jonathan be stopped?”

A father with 1000 kids? He exists

08-07-2022

A group of parents who used Jonathan to father their children is determined to find a way. They take the donor to court in the Netherlands. The trial is historic. Never before a judge ruled over the bodily autonomy of a male, the documentary says. The outcome of the case is, therefore, a precedent: "The judge forbids Jonathan Jacob Meijer from donating semen to new parents. For each violation, he will be fined 100,000 euros."

Mixed sperm

Jonathan Meijer declined to comment in the documentary. Yet, one look at his YouTube channel is telling about how he views the movie. "Netflix fooled you with that 1000 number", one of his YouTube videos claims.

In response to the documentary, Meijer is taking Netflix to court. He calls the movie slanderous and untrue. "Why would I lie about the number?" According to Meijer, he has fathered ‘only’ 550 children for 225 families. The statement that he would have swapped and mixed sperm with another donor, he calls a blatant lie.

In the meantime, the number of children is still growing, the donor acknowledges in a Dutch TV programme. "I still help existing families [that already had children from Jonathan, ed.]. And they appreciate it."

Read more about Sperm donation

Couples of which the man is infertile, or lesbian couples who cannot conceive children on their own can use sperm from donors to become pregnant. Read the articles on the topic on this page.