{"id":37587,"date":"2026-08-11T01:09:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T20:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37587"},"modified":"2026-08-11T01:09:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T20:09:30","slug":"aoc-joins-thousands-of-women-putting-fertility-on-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37587","title":{"rendered":"AOC joins thousands of women putting fertility on ice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/18BkWInyKIwnr7EYnhVhTL-y-GE=\/1366x768\/smart\/2025\/05\/01\/200559-1746129959804.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While analysts speculate whether Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/09\/19\/aoc-2028-democrats-president-senate\" target=\"_blank\">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> (D-N.Y.) will launch a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/09\/aoc-2028-president-schumer-senate\" target=\"_blank\">Senate or presidential<\/a> bid, she&#8217;s planning another part of her future: having kids.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The big picture:<\/strong> Few prospective parents are weighing a White House bid, but Ocasio-Cortez is among a growing number of people <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/10\/aoc-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-egg-freezing-white-house-2028\" target=\"_blank\">freezing their eggs<\/a> to preserve the possibility of having children later.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Context: <\/strong>Jessica Ryniec, a Boston-based OB\/GYN and reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist, tells Axios she sees &#8220;more and more people for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/04\/02\/ai-egg-freezing-sunfish\" target=\"_blank\">egg freezing<\/a> every year&#8221; for many reasons. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That includes people pursuing education, dedicating time to busy careers, planning to seek gender-affirming care or recognizing they may face <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/05\/02\/future-of-fertility-demographics\" target=\"_blank\">fertility<\/a> issues down the road, among other hurdles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Catch up quick: <\/strong>Ocasio-Cortez, the 36-year-old potential torchbearer of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/03\/democrats-leader-2028-president-aoc-bernie-sanders\" target=\"_blank\">Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a>&#8216; (I-Vt.) progressive movement, shared videos of herself on Instagram administering her medicine and discussing the costs of egg freezing, which she said her insurance did not cover.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>&#8220;<\/strong>I think it&#8217;s important for us as leaders to have these conversations and share these processes, especially for working women across the country and normalize them,&#8221; she said Sunday on ABC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>By the numbers: <\/strong>Egg freezing has boomed in popularity, with the number of patients undergoing the process nearly quadrupling between 2014 and 2021, per a UCLA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0002937825005897\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Meanwhile, fertility rates have been dropping since 2007, though the trend varies by age: While the fertility rate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/data\/vsrr\/vsrr043.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">fell<\/a> between 2024 and 2025 for teens and women in their early 20s, it rose for those in their 30s and 40s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Between the lines: <\/strong>Barbara Collura, a leader in infertility advocacy and founder of Vital Voices Consulting, says there are myriad reasons women are having children later, with the cost of living high on the list.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Buying a first home, all of these things that people wrap up in their image &#8230; of where I need to be in life before I start that family, that&#8217;s all been, in many ways, thrown out the window,&#8221; she says.<\/li>\n<li>Danielle Melfi, the CEO of REVOLVE: The National Infertility and Family Building Association, says &#8220;we are taught all of the ways to not get pregnant,&#8221; but &#8220;are taught none of the ways on how to get pregnant.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>That&#8217;s why Ocasio-Cortez sharing her story is &#8220;so meaningful,&#8221; she says: &#8220;it creates the space for other young women to ask the questions that they might have just been wrestling with alone.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Caveat:<\/strong> Having a child later in life can involve additional <a href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/diseases\/22438-advanced-maternal-age\" target=\"_blank\">risks<\/a>, while freezing eggs doesn&#8217;t guarantee a future pregnancy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There&#8217;s no one-size-fits-all answer to what age is best for freezing one&#8217;s eggs. While egg quality declines through one&#8217;s 30s and 40s, a younger person may not be able to afford an elective procedure.<\/li>\n<li>Ryniec says that &#8220;for many people, 32 to 34, even up to 36, is is actually a very smart time to think about it.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The other side:<\/strong> Critics took aim at the congressman&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MattWalshBlog\/status\/2086502142798356862\" target=\"_blank\">age<\/a>, relationship <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheLaurenChen\/status\/2086503893043679557\" target=\"_blank\">timeline<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/09\/us\/fertility-rates-decline.html\" target=\"_blank\">falling<\/a> fertility <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AndrewKolvet\/status\/2086483138969206908\" target=\"_blank\">rates<\/a> as they criticized her decision. Stigma remains, with fertility and reproductive rights at the crux of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/05\/02\/future-of-fertility-demographics\" target=\"_blank\">cultural, economic and political<\/a> debates<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A major recent chapter in the fertility fight came in February 2024, when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/02\/20\/alabama-ivf-embryos-children-supreme-court\" target=\"_blank\">frozen embryos<\/a> created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) were children under state law, temporarily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/02\/21\/alabama-supreme-court-ivf-treatments-pause\" target=\"_blank\">pausing treatment<\/a> in the state.<\/li>\n<li>That moment kicked Melfi &#8220;into high gear&#8221; to freeze her eggs at 33. <\/li>\n<li>&#8220;For me, even though I knew it would not be a guarantee,&#8221; she says,&#8221; I wanted to give myself every chance that I could to have biological children.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Go deeper: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/10\/aoc-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-egg-freezing-white-house-2028\" target=\"_blank\">AOC&#8217;s family plans spark a look at presidents with newborns<\/a><\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While analysts speculate whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) will launch a Senate or presidential bid, she&#8217;s planning another part of her future: having kids. The big picture: Few prospective parents are weighing a White House bid, but Ocasio-Cortez is among a growing number of people freezing their eggs to preserve the possibility of having children&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/18BkWInyKIwnr7EYnhVhTL-y-GE=\/1366x768\/smart\/2025\/05\/01\/200559-1746129959804.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}