Sofia Vergara fights with ex over frozen embryos
Modern Family's Gloria is in a heartbreaking legal row with her former fiance Nick Loeb over embryos created before they split
Sofia Vergara is in a painful battle with her ex over who should control the embryos that the couple created before they split. The 42-year-old actress, who's most famous for playing Gloria in US TV series Modern Family, says her ex Nick Loeb has no right to use the pair's embryos that date back to when they were engaged.
In 2013 the couple created two embryos through in vitro fertilisation. Nick now wants the embryos to be implanted in a surrogate, so that he can potentially be the father of two children. He plans to raise the children himself, paying all expenses and taking full responsibility for them.
Sofia, who already has a 23-year-old son from her first marriage, has made it clear she doesn't want Nick to use the embryos. So her former fiance has now taken legal action to gain control of them.
The morally-fraught situation has become very public, with Nick and a reluctant Sofia talking about it on TV.
"I don't think it's fair," Sofia, who's now in a relationship with Magic Mike actor Joe Manganiello, told ABC's Good Morning America. "I really want to make this the last time I talk about it."
It's emerged that a contract the couple signed at the time states the embryos can only be brought to term with both parties' consent.
But Nick insists "two lives have already been created". He spoke on NBC's Today Show saying there were "moral, legal, ethical concepts" concerning lives "that we've already created".
"I wouldn't just toss them aside, no different than a child that had been born,'' he said.
Nick also wrote a column about the issue in the New York Times. "When we create embryos for the purpose of life, should we not define them as life, rather than as property?" he wrote. "A woman is entitled to bring a pregnancy to term even if the man objects."
Who do you think is right on this one? Should a man be able to decide what happens to fertilised embryos without a woman's consent?
Read more:
Authors
Create the perfect wishlist for your baby with MyCrib
Are you expecting and don't know where to start? Discover how MyCrib can help you build your dream wishlist. You can add products from any site with just one click and even use MyCrib's buying assistant to help get you started.