Actress Sofia Vergara is involved in a lawsuit with her own fertilized frozen embryos and the implications could have far-reaching effect on many other families in the future.
While the Modern Family star was still engaged to ex Nick Loeb, Vergara had her embryos frozen to preserve her chances of conceiving with Loeb after they got married. The couple broke up and Vergara sought to have the embryos destroyed but given that they contain part of Loeb’s DNA and were created from that union and consent, Loeb is getting creative in his attempts to keep the embryos.
Get this: for purposes of the lawsuit, the embryos have names, Emma and Isabella, as listed in Louisiana court documents that the New York Post obtained.
In a new lawsuit, a trustee is named as the plaintiff and the case alleges that the embryos will be deprived of their inheritance from Vergara by not being born.
Given that the state of Louisiana is considered “pro-life” and therefore fertilized eggs are seen as a “juridicial person”, there is a good chance that the embryos may win their suit and be transferred to Loeb so they can be born.
It is presumed, he will find a surrogate to carry the embryos to term. Currently, the embryos are located in California.
As we learned from the other famous celebrity case involving Sherri Shepherd, we know that a judge could hold a celebrity financially responsible for a child conceived during a relationship but born after the relationship ended.
However, in that case, the embryos had already been implanted and were on their way to being born when the split occurred.
In the UK, in 2003, a judge there determined that embryos could not be born without the full consent of both parents.
photo: Getty