Parenting

Doctor Secretly Impregnates Patients & Fathers at Least 50 Kids Without Anyone Knowing

ParentingPublished Mar 26, 2019
By Kaitlin Stanford
Fertility doctorCBS

A retired fertility doctor in Indianapolis was accused of the unthinkable in 2016 when it was discovered he used his own sperm to secretly impregnate patients between 1979 and 1986. At the time, Dr. Donald Cline was in his late 70s, and the disturbing allegations seemed unfathomable. But with the powers of DNA testing -- and his own admission -- they soon proved true, and in the years since, more and more adult children are learning they too were fathered by Cline, according to a recent report by the Atlantic.

The story first began unraveling back in 2014, when a woman named Jacoba Ballard decided to see if she had any half-siblings.

Ballard told the Atlantic that she'd known since she was 10 that she was conceived via sperm donor but expected to find maybe one or two siblings "at the most." What she eventually uncovered was way more than she bargained for.

First, Ballard signed up for an online forum for adoptees and donor-conceived children, where it didn't take her long to meet several other women who had also been conceived at Cline's fertility clinic. But when she saw photos of them, she was shocked to see they looked just like her. Could they be related after all?

A 23andMe DNA kit soon confirmed they were, in fact, related -- and turned up four more half-siblings.

From there, the half-siblings continued digging through their family tree, and when they did, one last name kept coming up, over and over again: Cline.

The possibilities of what that could mean unnerved them all, and wheels began turning.

Finally, four of the half-siblings filed a complaint with Indiana's attorney general, asking for an official investigation. Their hope was to get answers, once and for all, as to whether Donald Cline had used his own sperm to impregnate their mothers. But this would mean time and more waiting.

In the meantime, one of the half-siblings reached out to Cline's children and grandchildren on Facebook. It took a while, but eventually, one bit.

That Facebook message led to a face-to-face meeting with Cline, his son, and several of the half-siblings. Incredibly, the former fertility doctor admitted he had used his own sperm, despite telling the patients all donors were anonymous. He claimed, however, that the original records had been destroyed. According to the Atlantic, it's been discovered that Cline has fathered at least 50 children. DNA tests from popular websites such as 23andME and Ancestry.com confirmed this staggering number, but it could be much higher as many have twins or other siblings who haven't been tested.

Cline offered no remorse or explanation for why he did it, which left Ballard and her half-siblings searching for any shred of logical reasoning he could have had -- all of which, of course, still left his actions unwarranted.

A police investigation finally led Cline to face charges in September 2017, but even those were minimal.

Despite the nature and scope of his crimes, the state of Indiana doesn't actually have laws prohibiting a fertility doctor from using his own sperm. Because of this, he couldn't be charged for assault, rape, or even something related to patient malpractice.

Instead, Cline was charged with two felony counts of obstruction of justice, as the result of initially lying to authorities about using his sperm.

And, to the fury of his donor children, he walked away virtually scot-free, without serving any jail time. Instead, Cline received a $500 fine, a year of probation, and was stripped of his medical license.

During his sentencing hearing, Cline did show some remorse for his actions, apologizing "for the pain my actions have caused."

"Out of fear, I acted alone, and foolishly, I lied," he reportedly told the courtroom after admitting he used his sperm "about 50" times when he was unable to obtain sperm from a medical student, as he promised the parents.

For now, the biological children he secretly fathered are hoping to move on from the experience, in whatever way they can. But as one adult child told NBC 7, it won't be easy, because Cline's actions all those years ago have "affected me in every way" and will likely continue to do so.

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