(Newser) – The ex-fiance of Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara took to the pages of the New York Times today to defend his decision to go to court over the embryos they created together. Florida businessman Nick Loeb wants custody of the two female embryos, now frozen in a clinic, in order to raise them as his daughters. Vergara, who has a new fiance now, is balking. Here's the nutshell of Loeb's argument:

"When we create embryos for the purpose of life, should we not define them as life, rather than as property? Does one person’s desire to avoid biological parenthood (free of any legal obligations) outweigh another's religious beliefs in the sanctity of life and desire to be a parent? 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?"

Loeb says he fully intends to have a family of his own in the more traditional manner, "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." Given the complex issues involved, including fathers' rights and whether the embryos have a constitutional right to life, a Forbes blog says the case could drag on for years. But at Salon, Joanna Rothkopf thinks that's ridiculous. "Hey Nick?" she writes. "You can ejaculate literally anywhere. Find another woman as cray-cray as you are to share the sacred duty of parenthood." Gabrielle Bluestone at Gawker agrees, writing, "It’s truly hard to tell who deserves more blame in this scenario:" Loeb, for writing the op-ed, "or the New York Times, for publishing it." (Read more Sofia Vergara stories.)

