Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces decision to freeze her eggs

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she is going to freeze her eggs and will be sharing the process online.

The progressive New York congresswoman, 36, revealed her decision to undergo fertility treatment in a series of Instagram stories this weekend. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Ocasio-Cortez said she had been saving for the procedure for a very long time, and said there was not a lot of information for women interested in doing so.

“As women in general, we are not taught about our bodies, we are not prepared for our own lives, whether that is in puberty, whether that is in pregnancy, whether that is in perimenopause, menopause, whether that is in so many different aspects of our lives,” she said in one of the stories.

Ocasio-Cortez recognized the balancing act that comes with undergoing fertility treatment with her work as a congresswoman. Ocasio-Cortez told viewers that she would be taking her shots in the dressing room before a scheduled ABC interview on Sunday.

“I want you all to see that,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Because women can do anything. And I think it’s badass that I’m gonna be giving myself shots in the green room, get my glam on, roll out, talk international events, domestic policy, elections, pop out, live my life, do my thing.”

Ocasio-Cortez also showed the medicines and tools, such as syringes and alcohol wipes, used in the process, which involves injecting multiple forms of medication over a period of time that typically lasts around 10 days or more. She joked she would not be injecting herself on a live feed, quipping: “Maybe I should start an ASMR egg-freezing channel.”

“Don’t be weird about this, even I know though all of you will be,” she said with a slight smile moments before finding an injection site on her abdomen.

She exhaled, injected the medication, and then remarked: “That wasn’t so bad!”

During her Sunday interview on ABC, Ocasio-Cortez discussed her decision further.

“In this political environment where this administration is denying reproductive care to women across the country, from abortion rights to the ability to carry out a healthy pregnancy, I think it’s important for us as leaders to have these conversations and share these processes, especially for working women across the country and normalize them,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez’s announcement drew praise.

Amanda Litman, co-founder and president of Run for Something, a political action committee that supports young progressive candidates, said on X: “I’m just so grateful for her honesty & vulnerability.”

Xochitl Hinojosa, a Democratic strategist, responded to Litman’s post by saying: “THIS. We don’t talk about women freezing their eggs or what women have to go through to start a family. Thank you @AOC for your bravery.”