On Sunday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted a morning in her life on Instagram. She was in the car by 7:45 a.m., on the way to ABC News in Washington for an interview on the show
This Week, with a Target lunchbox in tow. When she got to the studio, she went into hair and makeup. An hour later, she pulled out that lunchbox and spread an array of injectable fertility drugs across a table.
Earlier in the weekend, the 36-year-old New York congresswoman had shared online that she has begun the process of freezing her eggs. Posting a video injecting herself in the stomach at home on day one, she acknowledged that sharing the choice could be a “political risk” but said she wanted “to show more depictions of women having full lives in every context and every choice.”
Indeed, AOC’s new morning routine is relatable for anyone who has been through fertility treatment—whether freezing eggs or going through in vitro fertilization (IVF). The world—and our jobs—don’t stop for fertility planning. How many women have injected fertility drugs in the bathroom before a major presentation at work or brought them through airport security on a business trip? Carting refrigerated medications to an interview on national TV may be shocking for those who have never seen something like this up close. But for those who have been through it, it’s absolutely normal.
Responses from AOC’s Instagram followers were a reminder of how mysterious fertility treatment still is to so many people. They wanted to know the basics: What are the reasons someone might freeze their eggs? What does it cost? How long does a frozen egg last? AOC, again, took to her Instagram, and has answered all those questions in in a straightforward manner. She laid out several reasons someone would follow this path: preserving their fertility after receiving a cancer diagnosis; parents wanting to save eggs or embryos for a second or third or fourth child years down the line; genetic factors (with frozen embryos, testing can help maximize the viability of a pregnancy and screen for anomalies); wanting children but not having met the right partner yet. She also mentioned the reason more likely to trigger critics of feminism and proponents of traditional family structures: uncertainty about whether to have children.
On the question of costs, Ocasio-Cortez shared that her insurance does not cover any part of the egg-freezing procedure and said she has been saving for years to afford it. (Ahem, commentators who asked why she hasn’t done this earlier.) She explained the variability in costs, often due to medication protocols. And she advised anyone considering the process or unsure how to pay for it to take the first step of getting their fertility levels checked (for about $100 to $400). All in, she’ll pay about $8,000 to $9,000 completely out of pocket for this round, she said.
Responses to AOC’s candor have been predictably polarized. Critics including conservatives and pro-natalists honed in on the fact that, as far as they know, Ocasio-Cortez met her partner in college; they argued that at 36, she should not delay having children any longer. Democrats, meanwhile, have seized on this information as a sign that AOC will run for president in 2028—and in her ABC interview on Sunday, the congresswoman
declined to rule that out.
But really, AOC doesn’t owe us an explanation for why she is freezing her eggs. Any woman, at any age, should be empowered to decide for herself if and when to have children, and to pursue options that make those choices possible for her. It’s no one’s business whether the congresswoman’s decision is motivated by career aspirations, her personal life, her finances, or another factor that we don’t know about.
And still, her honesty will help destigmatize this process for women who go through the same thing. Egg freezing is at this unique intersection: both far more normal than scaremongers make it seem, and still an experience that can be overwhelming and all-consuming, from the injections to the procedure to finances. I froze my eggs earlier this year, and it’s genuinely groundbreaking to watch a woman in her 30s with a demanding career make the same choice and be honest about all it involves. Especially a woman who is clear-eyed about all the ways policy fails women on this issue—and in a position to change that.
“Not long ago in my life I was working as a waitress in downtown Manhattan and the thought of [the cost of egg freezing] was so paralyzing,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Pair that with the horrible rhetoric we as women are fed—it’s easy to feel frozen or like a failure. ‘I can’t afford this’ or ‘if I can’t afford it, I’m going to have a negative consequence.'”
“There is so much negative messaging directed toward women around our family choices,” she added. “It is designed to disregulate women and put us in a place of fear and insecurity, so we are making choices out of that place.”
AOC is clearly making her choice from a place of strength. Her honesty will help more women feel that same way.
Emma Hinchliffeemma.hinchliffe@fortune.comThe Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’
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