Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., revealed that she is freezing her eggs, opening up about the deeply personal decision in a series of Instagram Story videos while saying the procedure will give her more control over her future and using the announcement to criticize the Trump administration’s policies on women’s reproductive health.
The progressive “Squad” member posted the videos Saturday, explaining that she had spent years considering the procedure and saving for it before deciding to undergo fertility preservation.
Ocasio-Cortez said she wanted to be open about the process because women are often not taught enough about their reproductive health or family-planning options.
“I have made the decision to start freezing my eggs,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“I was weighing it for a very long time, and I think that I was saving for it for a very long time.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who was first elected to Congress at 28, said serving in office at a young age meant navigating major life decisions publicly in a way many people do not.
“When you get elected young, you have to grow up in the public eye in a time that most people usually get to grow more privately,” she said.
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The New York Democrat said she hoped sharing the experience would help normalize conversations about fertility, pregnancy, menopause, perimenopause, PCOS and other aspects of women’s health that she believes are too often overlooked.
“As women in general, we are not taught about our bodies,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referencing puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause, menopause and conditions including PCOS.
“I think we need to show more depictions of women having full lives in every context and every choice,” she added.
Ocasio-Cortez framed the move as an effort to take more control over her future.
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“This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” she said. “If people want to make assumptions about my decision, let them make those assumptions. I feel empowered to make this choice.”
She acknowledged that being able to undergo the procedure was a privilege and said advances in technology had helped make egg freezing more financially accessible.
Ocasio-Cortez then pivoted to politics, saying she was aware there could be a “political tax” associated with disclosing such a personal decision and arguing that female politicians face scrutiny around marriage, pregnancy and family planning that male politicians often do not.
She also blamed the Trump administration for what she described as an increasingly hostile environment for women’s reproductive choices.
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