Majority of MP's support independent investigation into fertility clinics, mass donors
The government must launch an independent investigation into abuses at fertility clinics and mass donors. A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, supported a motion by PRO MP Lisa Vliegenthart to that effect. Health Minister Sophie Hermans is open to the idea, Nieuwsuur reported.
Last week, the current affairs program revealed that the fertility clinic Medisch Centrum Kinderwens (MCK) failed to disclose that it deliberately created mass donors in 2018 after the gynecologists’ association instructed all fertility clinics to do just that. The clinic also used sperm from donors older than the guidelines allow.
The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate is investigating MCK’s conduct, but Vliegenhart believes it is time for a national investigation into all fertility clinics and mass donors, looking into all “interests and incentives.” The Tweede Kamer will vote on the motion on Tuesday. VVD, SGP, ChristenUnie, and Groep Markuszower told Nieuwsuur that they will support the motion. D66 and CDA said that they would likely do so.
Last year, research showed that there have been at least 85 mass donors in the Netherlands since 2004. A sperm donor is considered a mass donor if he has produced more than 25 children, the standard previously established by the gynecologists’ association.
Minister Hermans of Public Health said in a debate on the new embryo law last week that she was considering such an investigation, specifically what the scope of an investigation should be. “So I understand the request in the motion very well,” she said. She will present a plan of action in September.
Stichting Donorkind, a foundation that advocates for people conceived through sperm donation, believes that separate investigations per clinic are no longer sufficient and fully supports a single, nationwide investigation. “It is clear that it is necessary to look beyond the incident and identify structural patterns,” said chairman Ties van der Meer.
The foundation advocates for an investigation going back 80 years, comparable to recent large-scale investigations into violence in youth care and adoption from abroad.
Fiom, the expertise center for unwanted pregnancy, kinship issues, and adoption, also supports an investigation. It will not undo the suffering caused by abuses in donor conception, a spokesperson told Nieusuur. “But it can help those involved find answers and offer lessons for the entire sector for the future.”
