AOC Freezes Her Eggs After Telling Others To Question Having Kids

Socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced Saturday that she is freezing her eggs and filmed herself injecting hormones into her stomach, describing the decision as a “privileged” opportunity to gain more control over how she balances her personal and political life.

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“Normally, I keep my private life quite private. But I have made the decision to freeze my eggs. And I want to share this because I was weighing it for a very long time, and there isn’t a ton out there, and it can feel very daunting,” the potential 2028 presidential contender said. “I am aware there is, very strangely, a political ‘risk’ or ‘tax’ that could come with sharing this information.”

In a series of Instagram posts, the 36-year-old, who is childless, described to her millions of followers the “reflective mood” she has been in recently and the pressures that ultimately led to her decision.

“There’s also this flip side where you have to then grow up in the public eye, in a time that most people usually get to grow more privately,” she lamented. “And when you get elected later in life, you’ve made all of your mistakes in private. You’ve learned. You’ve grown in private. But when you get elected in public, and when you’re young, you have to do all of that in public.”

In one video, the self-described Democratic socialist is seen unboxing the medication, lifting her shirt, and injecting herself in the stomach as she begins the egg retrieval process. “Don’t be weird about this, even though I know all of you will be,” she told the camera before administering the shot. 

AOC, who was first elected to Congress at age 29, said she is documenting her fertility journey to help educate women about what she described as a lack of awareness surrounding women’s health, including puberty, pregnancy, and menopause.

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On the fertility front, it’s a notable shift in tone for the Bronx leftist, who has long championed feminist causes, including abortion-on-demand, while previously telling young people to reconsider having children because of climate change.

“Our planet is going to hit disaster if we don’t turn this ship around, and so it’s basically like, there’s a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a February 2019 Instagram live video. “And it does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question, you know, ‘Is it okay to still have children?’”

A woman’s fertility is closely tied to the number and quality of eggs in her ovaries, with age playing a major role in egg quality. Research has found that fertility declines significantly with age, with women in their mid-30s generally having lower chances of conceiving than women in their 20s, according to Trianglen Fertility Clinic. By the late 30s, fertility declines further, and after 41 years, the egg quality declines rapidly.

For AOC, the biological clock is ticking — and she knows it.

“I feel empowered to make this choice. I think it’s a very privileged position that I’ve been able to make, and it’s also a result of, I think, changes in technology that have also made it more financially accessible,” she said. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life.” 

Read more AOC Freezes Her Eggs After Telling Others To Question Having Kids