Woman goes to court to identify sperm donor who conceived her

A 21-year-old woman from Gelderland is going to court to try and identify her biological father. She was conceived with sperm from a donor. Her mother deliberately chose a donor who had given permission for his child to contact him later, but when Maria tried to do so in 2017 she found that her biological father had withdrawn that permission, she said to the Volkskrant.

The man's identity is hidden behind his donor ID 'K34'. The Rijnstate hospital in Arnhem knows who he is, according to the newspaper. As far as is known, at least 57 children were conceived with his sperm.

In the two years that Maria has been trying to find out who her biological father is, she met 13 others who were also conceived with the man's sperm. But she is the only one who is going to court to identify the man.

"The image I had of him was always fairly standard: a friendly gentleman who helped my mother to have a child", the young woman said to the Volkskrant. "Over the past years the desire to know who he is became stronger. And why shouldn't I want to know? He is part of my identity."

As far as is known, this is the first time in the Netherlands that a donor child is going to court to identify her biological father, according to the newspaper. In a somewhat similar case, a court recently gave a group of donor children permission to do a DNA test to find out if fertility doctor Jan Karbaat was indeed their biological father. After his death it was found that Karbaat used his own sperm to impregnate at least 49 women.