Using Ms. Spears meant he had to take artistic licence. For a start, she delivered by caesarean section. Medical experts also point out the sculpture depicts her in an unlikely position for giving birth.

Mr. Edwards said his wife had already told him this, but the all-fours position represents the singer's past skin-flashing stage shows.

And therein lies the rub with the family values and anti-abortion groups.

"It's not in my taste," said Jeanne Head, president of the Manhattan Right to Life Committee, which Mr. Edwards contacted to obtain anti-abortion literature.

Said John-Henry Westen, editor of LifeSiteNews.com, a conservative family values group in Canada, "It's a farce to suggest that this is pro-life. You get unwanted babies through the type of promiscuous sex celebrities like Britney Spears portray through their acts."

Even animal rights groups are upset at the bearskin rug, modelled from an actual bearskin bought over the Internet from Canada for US$150.