Mob Protests Sofia Vergara's Frozen Embryos At 'Magic Mike XXL' Premiere

As Sofia Vergara arrived on a Hollywood red carpet Thursday to celebrate the premiere of her fiancé Joe Manganiello's movie, Magic Mike XXL, there was a mob of pro-life protesters awaiting her.

Demonstrators lined up behind barriers and held signs that said, "Sofia: Unfreeze your daughters. Unfreeze your heart," and "Lives created should be lives protected," according to Entertainment Tonight. The New York Daily News reports that it's not even clear if the actress even saw their signs as she went onto the red carpet. Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was also defaced, with the hashtag "#embrydefense" scrawled over it.

Their protest stems from a highly-publicized legal battle between the 42-year-old Modern Family actress and her ex-fiancé Nick Loeb over two frozen embryos. After the couple split last May, Loeb has since sued Vergara, saying that he believes the actress wants to destroy the female embryos they created when they were still together. Loeb wants to bring those embryos to full term through a surrogate.He wrote an essay in the New York Times, arguing that when they decided to go through with freezing the embryos, they signed a form that said they could only be brought to full term if both parties agreed to it. However, he said the contract didn't explain what would happen if the couple broke up.

"I asked her to let me have the embryos, offering to pay for all expenses to carry our girls to term and raise them," he wrote in the Times. "If she did not wish to share custody, I would take on full parenting responsibilities and agree to have her declared an egg donor."

Vergara told Good Morning America that Loeb was making this whole ordeal public just to take advantage of her career and garner attention. Loeb argues that he's pro-life and sees those embryos as his daughters, and that Vergara wants to destroy them.

However, Vergara's lawyer, Fred Silberberg told PEOPLE his client never said she wanted to destroy the embryos. "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.

Vergara talked to Howard Stern in an interview, giving her side of the story. "More than a mother, [a child] needs a loving relationship of parents that you know, get along, that don't hate each other," she said. "I don't hate him [Loeb] but obviously he has a problem with me. … I wouldn't imagine anyone saying to bring to the world kids that already have everything set up wrong for them. It'd be so selfish."

Here are some photos and video of the protest: