– I was shocked. I called my mother and she initially denied it. But I heard from her voice that she was lying. That’s what Kjærsti Moen from Hamar says about the message she received from Swedish journalists a few weeks ago. They said that Kjærsti was actually conceived with the help of donor sperm at a hospital in Uppsala. This must be a mistake, she thought. But no, Kjærsti had a biological father in Sweden. – The entire family tree has been torn away, she says to news. This is semen. The picture was taken in a different context and has been enlarged 295 times. Photo: Aksel Øye / Scanpix Denmark Participated in research project Swedish SVT and the documentary series Uppdrag Granskning have spoken to over 256 men who served in the military in Uppsala in the late 1960s and early 1970s. 17 men say that they donated sperm to the Academic Hospital in Uppsala. At least three have involuntarily fathered one or more children, DNA tests show. Kjærsti Moen’s biological father is one of these. As a young man, he and several other soldiers had donated sperm to a research project at Akademiska Sjukehuset. But they were never told that their sperm could be used for artificial insemination, according to the documentary from SVT. – I was shocked, says Kjærsti Moen about the message from Swedish journalists. Here with his daughters. Photo: Privat Several of the men with whom the Swedish TV channel has been in contact react strongly to the news. – It’s a scandal, says one. – If they had told you that they were going to use your sperm to fertilize a woman, would you have agreed to it, asks the journalist from SVT. – No, never in my life. Hell rather, replies the man, who is anonymous. – It was only research, it was never to be used. The hospital in Uppsala has subsequently apologized for the incident. This is how sperm is stored at Rikshospitalet in Oslo. The picture was taken in a different context. Photo: Truls Alnes Antonsen / news Moen has long been interested in her family, she says. Both to find out about possible hereditary diseases, but also because she has always felt a little different. – I have done some research on the family, but there is no point in doing more research now. Moen’s biological father turned out to be a Swedish man who had served in the military in Uppsala in the 1970s. – We checked and then we see that it is 100 per cent certain that he is my father, says Moen. The hospital in Uppsala asked her parents to keep the sperm donation a secret, says Kjærsti Moen. Photo: Privat Was asked to keep it secret According to Moen, the mother and her husband traveled to Uppsala to carry out artificial insemination in the early 1970s. There they were told that the donors were medical students, according to Moen. – They were asked never to tell the children. Because it was harmful to us, she says. No one said anything about the semen actually being stolen. Kjærsti Moen has not yet met her Swedish biological father. – He is also quite innocent. When contact was made with him, he was shocked. Moen thinks it was right that they found out about this today, while her mother is still alive. – I also hope that I will meet the donor, to gain a little more knowledge, she says. That shouldn’t happen, says leader of the Biotechnology Council, Marianne Aasen. Photo: Su thet mon Also donations in Norway – This is gross, says leader of the Biotechnology Council, Marianne Aasen, to news. – That should not happen. She explains that sperm was also donated in Norway in the 1970s. At the time, the donors were anonymous. The aim should have been to help people who struggled to have children. – That was the most important consideration. Not the children’s consideration, says Aasen. It is therefore difficult to track down the donors today. Those who want to find out their origins really have few rights, she explains. For the years before 2005, there is no register of who donated sperm in Norway. – Have we had good enough control over this in Norway? – At least it has gotten better. And from 2005 it should be possible to find out where the sperm came from, says Aasen. Listen to the whole radio episode with Kjærsti Moen in Wednesday’s Ekko:
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Hospital stole sperm from Swedish soldiers – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
