Nick Loeb, ex-fiancé of actress Sofia Vergara, has turned to the public in his effort to protect embryos he created with the TV star, sparking criticism over his violation of Vergara’s privacy and refocusing attention on the thorny issue of the right to life of unborn children.
In his letter published in the New York Times, Loeb said he wants a surrogate to carry and give birth to the two female embryos that were created through in vitro fertilization.
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“Many have asked me: Why not just move on and have a family of your own? I have every intention of doing so. But that doesn’t mean I should let the two lives I have already created be destroyed or sit in a freezer until the end of time”, he said.
“A woman is entitled to bring a pregnancy to term even if the man objects. Shouldn’t a man who is willing to take on all parental responsibilities be similarly entitled to bring his embryos to term even if the woman objects?”, he asked.
Vergara, star of the ABC comedy Modern Family and the highest-earning actress on American TV for the last three years, was engaged to the businessman until May 2014. She has said she wants to keep the embryos “frozen indefinitely.”
Loeb met the Colombian actress in 2010, right before her career took off. He started to push for children after they got engaged, and Vergara agreed on the condition that they use a surrogate, Loeb said. He added that the surrogate later miscarried so the couple created the two embryos that are at the center of the current legal battle.
The businessman said that the couple signed a form which stated that the embryos would only be brought to term with both parties’ consent. Loeb is seeking to have the form voided as it did not specify what would happen if he and the actress broke up.
A few months after their separation, Loeb asked Vergara to let him have the embryos, offering to pay for all expenses to carry the girls to term and raise them, as well as take on full parenting responsibilities if she did not wish to share custody, the businessman said.
Vergara’s attorney released a statement in April that said “Vergara has never suggested that she wished to have the embryos destroyed. She has always maintained that they be kept frozen, a fact of which Loeb and his counsel have always been aware, despite Loeb’s statements to the contrary.”
“Vergara, who has happily moved on with her life, is content to leave the embryos frozen indefinitely as she has no desire to have children with her ex, which should be understandable given the circumstance, ” the statement said.
Meanwhile, an article in The Guardian accused Loeb of downplaying the facts and glossing over ethical inconsistencies, while questioning the Times’ decision to publish his revelations. It claimed Loeb has made himself look more like a jilted boyfriend than a heartsick father.
