Our Father: How a Doctor's Fertility Fraud Fooled Hundreds
Netflix documentary exposes Dr. Donald Cline's decades-long deception—and the DNA revelations that exposed him
Quick Facts
In May 2022, Netflix released 'Our Father,' a devastating documentary that exposed one of modern medicine's most disturbing fertility fraud cases. At the center is Dr. Donald L. Cline, an Indianapolis-based fertility specialist who systematically used his own sperm to inseminate patients without their knowledge or consent during the 1970s and 1980s.
Cline's crimes remained hidden for decades until the digital age made them impossible to conceal. In 2015, adult children began discovering they shared the same biological father through direct-to-consumer DNA testing services like Ancestry. Jacoba Ballard, one victim, eventually discovered approximately 100 half-siblings through genetic testing—a staggering revelation that sparked wider investigations.
FOX59 journalist Angela Ganote first reported the case publicly in 2015, launching a broader inquiry into Cline's practices. As investigators dug deeper, the full scope of the deception became apparent. Paternity tests confirmed that Cline was the biological father of children born to at least two of his patients, though the documentary suggests he may have fathered more than 90 children through this fraud.
When state investigators initially questioned Cline, he denied using his own sperm. Only later did he admit the truth: he had used his sperm when he claimed donors were unavailable. This obstruction of justice became the basis for his criminal charges. In 2017, at 79 years old, Cline pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice—a remarkably lenient outcome for crimes that violated the bodily autonomy and informed consent of numerous women.
The sentencing reflected the shocking inadequacy of the legal system's response. Cline received a one-year suspended sentence, meaning he served no jail time whatsoever. For victims and their biological half-siblings who discovered their existence through a DNA test rather than through honest family disclosure, the minimal punishment underscored a troubling gap in legal protections for fertility fraud victims.
