These days she is sending less of her $40,000-a-year salary home to Nigeria. Although her family is encouraging, she says, they’re shocked by what she is spending on her fight. "When you’re making $250 a month and your sister is spending $250 an hour [on lawyers], it doesn’t make sense," Augusta says. "I tell them, ‘This is for my family. This is for my future.’"
For now, the embryos remain at the Center of Reproductive Medicine in a locked, alarm-equipped container in a locked, alarm-equipped room. The hospital where Augusta works is right next door. When she drives her old Honda Del Sol from the hospital parking lot onto palm-lined Medical Center Drive, she glances over at the low-slung clinic building where the embryos lie. "If I could just reach out and get them…" she muses. "But you can’t do that."
Originally published in MORE magazine, September 2006.