When the battle of the frozen embryos originally surfaced way back in 2015, I thought, “This is a really perplexing conundrum.” After all, who gets to choose in these matters — especially if the biological parents cannot come to terms, as in the case of actress Sofia Vergara and her ex, Nick Loeb, who still wants to start a family with his and Vergara’s frozen embryos. There ain’t no wise old King Solomon around. But as it happens, the perplexing just keeps on getting weirder and weirder.
Now in an item in the New York Post by Emily Smith:
“The battle over Sofia Vergara’s embryos took an extraordinary turn Tuesday — when a right-to-live lawsuit was filed on behalf of the fertilized eggs against their mom. The female embryos are listed as plaintiffs ‘Emma’ and ‘Isabella’ in the Louisiana court papers, which come amid her knock-down, drag-out legal battle with former fiancé Nick Loeb, sources told The Post.”
After multiple rounds in the California courts, Vergara, Loeb, and attorneys have taken this nasty bit of business down to an even lower level. This time, the Tinsel Town Torters are in Louisiana battling out the case of the fertilized frozen embryos, Isabella and Emma, as plaintiffs, versus Sofia Vergara, defendant.
It seems the courts in Louisiana want to overturn the courts in California — and have appointed a guardian of the fertilized embryos to commence an action on their behalf.
There are no words to describe the insanity.
Do the frozen, fertilized eggs live or die? Do they stay frozen ’til hell freezes over? Do they get to be implanted?
And if so, who gets custody? To what extent? Joint? Joint with limited supervision? None of the above?
Will the surrogate womb have any rights over the fertilized embryos?
When custody is established, does that extend on whose uterus is implanted? Who gets to pick the womb-for-rent?
What about the embryos’ futures? You know they only stay little for a very short time. Who pays for school? Who gets the holidays? Whose name is on the birth certificate? Who pays the child support? Questions, questions, and more questions.
Adding to the unknown is how long can you keep the eggs on ice and have them still be viable? One year, two years, 100 years? No one really knows. And of course, these in-vitro fertilizations don’t always take. Who is to say if both are implanted that either will thrive and develop into a live birth?
Just thinking about all the possibilities has given me a headache. I can only imagine the legal eagles battling this out and how bad their heads will ache. (Or how big the retainers will top off at? Probably big enough to break the bank).
Not for Nuthin™, but in the world of epic custody battles — Angie and Brad, Madonna and Guy, and Woody and Mia — they ain’t got nothing on this. Solomon would probably cut himself in half just not to deal with this one.
Follow me on Twitter @JDelBuono.
