Emelie came about through the sperm scandal

It was from the 70s to 1996 that the so-called sperm scandal took place. At the time, Halmstad’s insemination operations were attended by couples who were in need of donated sperm. Couples who needed to undergo a fertility investigation also came to the hospital. Now it is suspected that a now-deceased doctor stole sperm from the fertility investigation to inseminate women who needed sperm.

As a teenager, Emelie Persson began, as many young people do, to search for her identity. Unlike her parents, she has dark eyes but she never suspected that something was different about her. But during an argument with her parents as a 15-year-old, the truth came out – she was a test-tube baby.

– It wasn’t quite what I expected, says Emelie, who immediately started looking for her biological father.

An almost impossible task

Something she thought would be easy turned out to be an almost impossible mission. When she contacted the hospital to find out about her origins, she ran into a wall. The hospital, even though they are required to have it, had no information about Emelie’s biological father.

– For me it was always important to search for my origins, I think it is my duty as a parent. So I was very goal-oriented, she says.

After a lot of hard work, the turnaround came – Emelie got in touch with Uppdrag Granskning, which turned out to be investigating what would be called the sperm scandal. With their help, she was helped to find her biological father and she also learned that his sperm had been stolen.

– I had understood that something was wrong, but you would never have guessed that it was this wrong, says Emelie.

“Very proud when he looks at us”

During this scandal, at least five men have unknowingly become fathers, something that SVT’s mission review was able to reveal this spring. And there are more people out there who don’t know they were created from stolen sperm. Emelie testifies about how shocking the news was for her.

– There have been a lot of emotions and very turbulent, she says.

Emelie talks about the meeting with her biological father and says that he was shocked and found Halland hospital’s actions unacceptable.

– But he is very happy that me and the children are here. He looks very proud when he looks at us, says Emelie.

At the beginning of September, Region Halland’s internal investigation came out, showing major shortcomings. The healthcare in Halland has Lex Maria registered themselves and wants to make sure that this never happens again.