Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced over the weekend that she has begun the process of freezing her eggs, sharing detailed updates on Instagram as she undergoes hormone treatments in preparation for the procedure. The 36-year-old New York Democrat said the decision was one she has contemplated and saved for over a long period, and she is now pursuing it during Congress’s August recess.
Ocasio-Cortez documented the process on her Instagram Stories, posting videos of herself preparing and administering hormone injections. She filmed herself with her French Bulldog, Deco, while discussing the medications and ultimately injecting herself. In one post, she told followers “don’t be weird” about the process, acknowledging that she knew the announcement would draw attention and reactions.
“Usually, I keep my private life quite private, but I have made the decision to start freezing my eggs, and I want to share that with anyone who is,” she said on Instagram. “I was weighing it for a very long time, and I think that you know, I was saving for it for a very long time, and there just isn’t a ton out there.”
The congresswoman explained her reasoning for going public with such a personal decision. She said she wanted to help educate other women about their reproductive health options and normalize conversations around fertility preservation, noting that women are often not adequately taught about their own bodies and life choices.
“And 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.
Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that discussing the procedure publicly could carry political risks, particularly given ongoing speculation about a potential 2028 presidential bid. She said she was aware there was a “political risk or tax” attached to sharing the information, but chose to do so anyway.
The treatment involves roughly two weeks of hormone medication before doctors retrieve eggs from the ovaries. The eggs are then frozen at subzero temperatures, preserving them for future use. The procedure allows women to have biological children later in their lives, when egg quality typically has declined. Ocasio-Cortez noted that this is an option that men in public life do not face the same scrutiny over.
“This is just not something that men deal with,” she said. “Men run for office, or frankly, they interview for jobs, and people don’t think in the back of their mind, ‘Okay, this guy is running for office. How old is he? Oh, well, is he going to want to start a family,’ and people don’t go down those rabbit holes and fixate on that for men.”
She emphasized her decision as one made to feel more in control of her life. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And if people want to make assumptions about my decision, let them make those assumptions. I feel empowered to make this choice.”
During an interview Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week,” Ocasio-Cortez discussed her egg-freezing announcement again, framing it within the context of reproductive rights. She said the Trump administration’s policies have been hostile to women’s reproductive freedom.
“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,” she said.
She also announced that she would be administering an injection in the green room before going on air for the ABC appearance. “I want you all to see that. And because women can do anything, and I think it’s badass that I’m going to be giving myself shots in the green room [as I] get my glam on,” she said.
The announcement comes as Ocasio-Cortez continues to face questions about her political future. When pressed on the possibility of a 2028 presidential run during her ABC appearance, she declined to rule it out. “I’m focused on winning the midterms. I’m running for Congress right now,” she initially said, but when pressed further, she added, “I haven’t ruled out the possibility. And I’m very humbled to the tremendous amount of support out there.”
When asked whether she might run for Senate in New York in 2028, when Democratic leader Chuck Schumer will be up for reelection, Ocasio-Cortez answered, “I think that anything is possible at this juncture.”
The congresswoman has pushed back on the media’s framing of her ambitions as purely positional. She complained that reporters approach her with reductive questions about whether she will run for higher office, viewing her through what she called a “two-dimensional, craven understanding or ambitious understanding of power.”
“I think a lot of us actually approach these considerations or these decisions through the larger context of our lives as whole human beings and what is happening in our lives, as whole human beings,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez, who was first elected to Congress at age 29, reflected on the unique challenges of growing up in public office. She noted that most people get to experience adulthood privately, whereas she has had to navigate that transition while much of her life was playing out in the public eye.
Ocasio-Cortez has been engaged to Riley Roberts, who works in marketing and web development, since 2022. The couple met as undergraduate students at Boston University more than a decade ago, and got engaged in Puerto Rico.