The Truth About Netflix's Serial Sperm Donor In The Man With 1,000 Kids

Childbirth is often referred to as "the miracle of life," and for couples that struggle with infertility, it's an even bigger miracle when parents can bring a child into this world. Many couples seek out the assistance of sperm donation, a family planning method that sounds wonderful in theory but in execution is an absolute nightmare of a lack of regulations and ripe for corruption. There are horror stories like the families taken advantage of by infamous doctor Donald Lee Cline, a fertility doctor who impregnated patients with his own sperm instead of the donors they had selected — fathering an estimated 90 children. He was the subject of the Netflix documentary "Our Father," a film /Film called "shocking" and "stomach-churning" in our review.

Unfortunately, Dr. Cline is just one of the many, many people who have taken advantage of the poor legal oversight of the donor conception industry. Netflix has since released a docuseries called "The Man With 1,000 Kids," focusing on serial sperm donator Jonathan Jacob Meijer.

The title sounds like Netflix is exaggerating for dramatic effect, but it's actually being modest in estimating 1,000 possible children. Director Josh Allott spoke with couples and individuals who used Meijer's sperm, all of whom were blatantly lied to regarding his donor history. Meijer has rightfully been legally barred from ever donating his sperm again, but the fallout of his actions is immeasurable. Not only did he donate his sperm locally — meaning there were half-siblings in the same area interacting without realizing it — but he also donated to Cryos International, a global sperm bank that allowed him to father hundreds of children in countries all around the world.

In case you've forgotten your basic junior high biology, those assigned male at birth (and without complications) are constantly producing new sperm — millions of little swimmers every day. It only takes one sperm to fertilize an egg, which are in far less supply as those assigned female at birth produce a finite amount and typically release one egg with every menstrual cycle. Considering it takes nine months to bring a baby to fruition, that means for every one fertilized egg inside of a uterus, sperm has the potential to make hundreds of new lives without impacting the donor's life in any way whatsoever. The Dutch Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology banned Meijer from donating sperm in the Netherlands back in 2017 after learning of his behavior, but he found his workaround with Cryos and donated internationally. The man was obsessed with spreading his seed, and thousands of people have been impacted by his decisions.

Comedian and activist Laura High, aka "Your Donor Conceived Person of TikTok," has hailed the docuseries for amplifying how wildly unethical the donor conception industry truly is — something that she and her fellow donor-conceived community members have been desperately trying to draw attention to for years. Meijer took to YouTube to speak out against the doc, claiming that he's actually only fathered 550 children, and wants to sue. Given the fact Netflix uses words like "possibly" and "potentially," it doesn't seem like he has much of a case, and Netflix can add this lawsuit to the pile on top of its current "Baby Reindeer" legal battle.

Meijer's actions are, to put it kindly, deplorable. Unfortunately, he's the result of a broken system that fails donor-conceived children (and adults who learn they were donor-conceived later in life). He currently lives in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and declined to participate in the Netflix docuseries.