LOS ANGELES (AP) – Sofia Vergara’s ex- fiancé’s demands that she give him two frozen embryos they created – referring to them as “our girls” – highlights the wider legal and ethical issues surrounding frozen embryos created by in-vitro fertilization.
Businessman Nick Loeb wrote Wednesday on NYTimes.com that he has sued the “Modern Family” star for the embryos because he longs to become a parent and doesn’t want the “two lives” they created to “be destroyed or sit in a freezer until the end of time.”
He said he “push(ed) for children” after he and Vergara got engaged in 2012, and said the couple agreed the following year to try in vitro fertilization and a surrogate to have children. Loeb wrote that they signed a form stating that any embryos they created could only be brought to term if both of them agreed. He said the form didn’t specifically say, as California law requires, what would happen to the embryos if they separated.
He is seeking to have the document voided. He and Vergara split in 2014. She is now dating actor Joe Manganiello.
Loeb said Vergara’s lawyer has told reporters that she wants to keep the embryos frozen indefinitely. A publicist and attorney for Vergara did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.