Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed she is contemplating freezing her eggs.
The Democratic congresswoman shared her thoughts about one day starting a family in a new interview as Vanity Fair’s December cover star.
During the interview, the 31-year-old discussed her work-life balance, and the difficulties of making time for self-care, explaining that she has to “force myself to not live and breathe work.”
When it comes to the possibility of motherhood one day, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said: “I’m sitting here, I’m like: Do I freeze my eggs? Can I afford to do that?”
“My orthodontist was telling me about how she was doing IVF, and I’m, like, asking her what her experience is like,” she added while laughing.
Egg-freezing patients will spend $30,000 to $40,000 on treatment and storage on average, according to FertilityIQ, which states that it typically costs $15,000 to $20,000 per egg-freezing cycle.
The procedure may also not be covered by health insurance unless for a medical reason.
According to the lawmaker, who is currently in a relationship with boyfriend Riley Roberts, it is necessary to talk about family-planning decisions because they are choices that men do not have to make.
“It’s important for us to talk about it, because women, we have to make these choices that men simply don’t have to make,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said, before referencing Senator Tammy Duckworth, who became the first senator to give birth in office in 2018.
This is not the first time the New York representative has discussed the possibility of children. In 2019, she told Vogue: "I don’t think too much about [the future]. I’d probably say the most in the future I think about has to do with personal stuff, like how I would handle having children.”
She has also discussed the legitimacy of people deciding not to have children because of climate change.
“There’s scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said during an Instagram Live in 2019. “And it does lead young people to have a legitimate question: Is it OK to still have children?”
