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In a New York Times column published Wednesday, businessman Nick
Loeb said that after the pair split in 2014, he sought to take
the embryos to have them carried to term -- assuming all
financial and custodial responsibility -- but she refused.
"When we create embryos for the purpose of life, should we not
define them as life, rather than as property?" he wrote.
Representatives for the Colombian-born Vergara, who last
September earned the distinction of being the highest paid U.S.
television actress for three consecutive years, could not be
immediately reached for comment.
Loeb said he decided to write the op-ed after news of the case,
which he filed in Santa Monica, California last August, recently
broke in the media.
Son of former U.S. ambassador John L. Loeb Jr., Loeb said he and
Vergara agreed to attempt in vitro fertilization and have a
surrogate bear children from their embryos. He said the couple's
first two attempts were unsuccessful, so they created two more
embryos in 2013, both female.
Vergara's lawyer, Fred Silberberg, told People magazine in a
statement earlier this month that she intended to keep the
embryos frozen.
"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 circumstances," he said in the statement.
In Wednesday's column, Loeb wrote the two had signed an
agreement stipulating the embryos could only be used if both
parties consented. He is seeking to have that form voided.
Loeb said he intends to move on and build a new family, but
added: "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."
"Hot Pursuit," a comedy starring Vergara and actress Reese
Witherspoon is set to open next week.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by
Crispian Balmer)
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