Image via Complex Original
In the new Style Network documentary Sperm Donor (airing tonight at 9pm EST), a guy named Ben discovers that ten years after donating sperm during his college days, he's now the father of 74 children. Yeah, that's not a typo—dude has 74 kids! And there's more on the way. If the mere thought of that leaves you stunned, you'd best sit down while reading our following countdown of the 10 Craziest Sperm Donation Stories; we can assure you, they're all worse. Especially if you think 74 sounds like a lot.
10. Craigslist donor turns out to be crazy... go figure.
They say you can find just about anything on Craigslist these days, but we didn't quite believe that until we heard about this: A lesbian woman in Los Angeles found a sperm donor on the all-purpose site. Sure, he turned out to be all crazy and stuff, but still.
Here's what happened: She found a man, who was gay himself, willing to donate his sperm to her so she could have a child; he even signed a document that specified in layman's terms that she would make all parenting decisions and that he'd be allowed visitation rights if he wanted. The arrangement seemed to be going OK until tdude started pushing himself into her life during the pregnancy. He eventually sued her when she wouldn't allow the child to get a passport so he could take the kid to visit Brazil (because that seems totally innocent). Though the court ruled in her favor, she still has problems with him attempting to interject himself into the her family's life.
Can she really be that shocked though? She met him on Craigslist, after all.
[Via ABC News]
9. A brother literally from another father.
It sounds like a story imagined specifically for a weird sci-fi movie, but this actually happened. By some mistake on the hospital's part, a couple who conceived through invitro fertilization ended up with one child who's completely theirs and another child who's only half theirs—twins from different fathers.
As you can see above, this blunder is pretty obvious. Apparently, when the doctors were performing the procedure, they accidentally impregnated the woman with both the sperm of her husband and that of another man, resulting in two fertilized embryos from different fathers. Consider this a variation on "brother from another mother."
[Via MSNBC]
8. Worst. Surprise. Ever.
This past May, when a Cambridge, England, local found out he had kids, not only was he informed that he had two, but he was also told he'd need to pay somewhere in the range of $166,000 in child support. Surprise!
As the story goes, his ex-wife had tricked a sperm bank—where he had given his sperm to be frozen in the event that he ever became infertile—into impregnating her with his sperm twice, without telling him a thing either time. She didn't inform him about the children until the youngest, a boy, was in the hospital being treated for a hole in his heart.
That's crazy, yes, but can we just take a moment to consider something: According to the man in question, when his children asked their mother where they came from, "She told them, 'The freezer.'" Not much better than "Some random guy's junk.'"
[Via Daily Mail]
7. The sperm from beyond the grave.
If you think your parents interfere with your life too much, get a load of this: Last February, a couple in Israel, Mari and Dudi Ben-Yaaakov, whose only son tragically passed away after an accident, had their deceased kid's sperm removed and frozen, with the intention of finding a woman to impregnate, so they could have grandchildren. The parents' reasoning: "If we were entitled to donate the organs of our son, why are we not entitled to make use of his sperm in order to bring offspring to the world?" Some unfortunate lawyer has his or her hands incredibly full right about now.
[Via The Guardian]
6. There's a black market for sperm.
So, have you heard? There's a black market for sperm, and, as indicated by this case, people actually use it. Back in 2010, two men in the United Kingdom made about $400,000 from an off-the-books sperm scheme executed from their basement, before eventually getting caught. The sick entrepreneurs connected women with anonymous donors for about $600 a pop, delivering sperm and a syringe to the customer so they could perform self-insimination (cringe!).
Why anyone would take this route remains unclear, since it's a lot safer and easier to do it the legit way. It's also highly doubtful the men actually screened the sperm for diseases. Not a good look.
[Via Glamour]
5. Surprise, your dad's a reality TV star!
When Devin O'Neil joined the Donor Sibling Registry because of boredom, he was easily able to find the identity of his father off a simple description that he remembered his mother telling him when he was younger. He sent an email to the guy, who just so happened to be the right person, and it also just so happened to be Richard Hatch from Survivor.
Perhaps Hatch, who's had a lot of legal issues due to a little thing known as tax evasion, should have written off his little donation. And consider this: If one kid was born by Richard Hatch's donated sperm, there could be others. Many others. Loads of others.
Actually, let's not consider that.
[Via Gawker]
4. The Tax Write-Off Boner
Or maybe Richard Hatch shouldn't have considered that route.
If you were thinking of donating sperm to use it as a tax write-off, stop right now. Put the porn away. Considering that sperm donation "does not serve any real medical purpose," it cannot be written off, as a man in NYC discovered when he tried to do just that.
We suppose it was worth a shot, but how did how did he really expect to get away with it? "Medical purpose," how? The more kids he artificially bears the better his back is going to be?
[Via Turbo Tax]
3. The Man Who Has 150 Kids
Through the DSR (that is, the Donor Sibling Registry service), those who have been concieved or have concieved through a donor can search to find matches with other donor children to see who shares the same father. It's supposed to help families in the event that their child has an odd trait that needs to be determined as genetic or not, as well as lower the possibility of accidental incest, which is always good.
The DSR also helps people find out things like this: As one California woman learned through the registry, her son had about 150 half-sisters and half-brothers, all concieved from the same donor.
Meaning, there's a man out there with 150 children. Most folks don't even have that many friends.
[Via NY Times]
2. The Curious Case Of The Inseminating Doctor
Back in 1992, a doctor known for treating infertile women was convicted on 52 counts of fraud and perjury for, get this, artificially inseminating his patients without their knowledge. As in, he was making women pregnant without even buying them dinner first.
The doctor, whose name is Cecil B. Johnson, had eight legitimate children with his wife at the time, but prosecutors charged that he may have fathered up to 75 illegitimate ones. His patients were mostly referred to him by other doctors who believed he was the "best in the field" when it came to treating infertile women. Technically, they weren't wrong because, you know, the women did end up pregnant.
[Via NY Times]
1. He who giveth apparently can't taketh away.
Though the man in question here didn't really "donate," per se, as you'll see, the courts say he didn't really expect to get his sperm back—so technically it's a illegitimate donation. Right?
Here's the story: This doctor, named Richard O. Phillips, has an affair with another doctor, Sharon Irons. Six years later, long after the affair is over, he finds out she had a kid two years prior to his learning of the news, and, yes, by him. Which leaves about a four-year gap between their relationship and the births.
How did she pull off the sudden immaculate conception? Eassily, actually: She saved his sperm after oral sex and used it to get pregnant. But here's where it gets good. Phillips finds out about the kid and, understandably, freaks before suing Irons under the claim that he has trouble eating and sleeping, and that he can't escape the constant feeling of "being trapped in a nightmare."
The courts ended up ruling in Irons' favor despite this very convincing argument, stating, "When [Phillips] 'delivered' his sperm, it was a gift—an absolute and irrevocable transfer of title to property from a donor to a donee. There was no agreement that the original deposit would be returned upon request."
As a result, Phillips was ordered $800 a month in child support. We're guessing he's not happy about that.
[Via MSNBC]