Just six years after suggesting young people should question whether it’s “okay to still have children” because of climate change, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now freezing her eggs to preserve her own fertility options.
The 36-year-old Democratic socialist from New York announced the decision Saturday in a series of Instagram posts, even filming herself lifting her shirt and injecting hormones into her 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.
The move marks a striking reversal for the childless congresswoman, who has long championed feminist causes including abortion-on-demand while previously warning that climate catastrophe should give young Americans pause about starting families.
“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?'”
Now, the potential 2028 presidential contender is taking expensive medical steps to keep her own options open.
“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 in her announcement. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life.”
AOC, who was first elected to Congress at age 29, described the “reflective mood” she has been in recently and the pressures of public life that contributed 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 said. “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.”
The congresswoman acknowledged that sharing such personal medical information carries political risks. “I am aware there is, very strangely, a political ‘risk’ or ‘tax’ that could come with sharing this information,” she said.
She framed her decision to document the fertility journey publicly as an educational effort, citing what she described as a lack of awareness surrounding women’s health issues including puberty, pregnancy, and menopause.
“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,” she explained.
The biological reality is clear. Research shows 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 drops further, and after 41, egg quality declines rapidly.
For the Bronx leftist, the clock is ticking. And despite years of telling other Americans to think twice about bringing children into a world she claims is headed for climate disaster, she’s now spending considerable resources to ensure she doesn’t miss her own window.
