A pro-life law firm has sided with Sofia Vergara's ex-boyfriend Nick Loeb in his legal battle for 'custody' of former couple's frozen embryos.
The legal battle for the custody of the frozen embryo, which actress Sofia Vergara and businessman Nick Loeb created when they were still together, took a new twist with the entry of a pro-life law firm on the side of Loeb. The two cryopreserved female embryos that are the center of the legal dispute was fertilized using her eggs and his sperms in November 2013.
The Daily Mail Online reported that the Chicago-based law firm, Thomas More Society, petitioned the court in Los Angeles for permission to submit what is known as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief on behalf of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the National Catholic Bioethics Center and in aid of Nick Loeb's quest to gain control of the frozen embryo. The Thomas More Society defends Christian causes with a focus on those involved in the pro-life movement.
According to the In Touch Weekly, Sofia Vergara was engaged to Loeb until 2014. Later that year, Loeb filed a lawsuit against the "Modern Family" star to prevent her from destroying the two frozen embryos even though the two have already broken up and the actress was engaged then to "Mike Magic" actor Joe Manganiello whom Vergara eventually married.
Sofia's lawyer claimed that Loeb failed to establish a legal claim to the embryos and that he had signed an agreement to the effect that she must consent to have the embryos implanted on a surrogate mother. Sofia also claimed that Loeb is only trying to take advantage of her career to gain publicity for himself.
In response, Loeb claimed that the agreement was invalid under California law and that he signed the agreement under duress. He also claimed that he had offered to pay all expenses to have a surrogate carry the embryos but that Sofia refused.
Last May 2015, Superior Court Judge Lawrence Cho granted Loeb permission to file a revised complaint that will allow him to attempt to secure access to the embryos and have them implanted in a surrogate.
