AOC announces she is freezing her eggs

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) made a public video announcement over the weekend about a private matter: The congresswoman is freezing her eggs.

Ocasio-Cortez, 36, posted a series of videos on social media in which she said this is a decision she made to “feel more in control of my life.” She said she had been weighing the decision and saving up for the pricey fertility procedure, which often isn’t covered by insurance, for a long time.

The congresswoman said she was going public with her decision against the backdrop of steps by the Trump administration to curtail abortion access and some forms of reproductive care across the country. It also comes amid speculation that she could seek higher office. She said that she was making the egg-freezing decision in a “privileged position” and said that, unlike men, women applying for jobs or running for office face intense scrutiny about when, or if, they will have children.

“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,” Ocasio-Cortez said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday morning.

Egg freezing is an increasingly popular procedure in which a woman’s eggs are extracted from her body, frozen and then stored. Those eggs can later be fertilized. The fertilized eggs then grow, and when the embryos are ready, they are transferred into the uterus in the hope that the woman becomes pregnant, according to UCLA Health.

Women opt to have the procedure for many reasons, including to preserve their eggs and reproductive ability if they are undergoing chemotherapy or other medical treatments that could affect their fertility.

But many healthy women who are not ready to have children during their biologically prime reproductive years also use the process.