Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Aug. 15 that she has no regrets about publicly sharing her decision to freeze her eggs.
The congresswoman from New York posted her comments on Instagram days after reports surfaced that Ocasio-Cortez and her longtime partner Riley Roberts had ended their engagement.
"One question that I received earlier is: 'Do I regret coming out publicly about this due to all of the political negativity and the larger political context, and especially this idea that for me, I’m quite young in my career, especially when it comes to politics, and so, would the backlash around this have any future impact on my career, and do I regret it for those reasons?'" she said.
“And the answer to that simply is, no. I was born a woman,
period, and I have no control over that, and I wouldn’t want to change that,” the congresswoman added.
AOC recently opened up about family planning
Ocasio-Cortez’s comments came after she publicly revealed that she had frozen her eggs.
The 36-year-old Democrat said she wanted to help normalize conversations about family planning and reproductive health, particularly for working women balancing career and personal goals. In a subsequent interview on ABC's "This Week," Ocasio-Cortez said concerns about access to reproductive care under the Trump administration also factored into her decision.
"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, especially for working women across the country and normalize them," Ocasio-Cortez said.
'More time to make some of these decisions'
Danielle Melfi, CEO of Resolve, a fertility patient advocacy group, previously told USA TODAY that Ocasio-Cortez is not alone, as more women are choosing to freeze their eggs than ever before.
"While egg freezing isn't a guarantee, it does help women feel like they have more time to make some of these decisions," Melfi said.
Though egg freezing is on the rise, some drawbacks include varying pregnancy success rates, financial barriers and minor procedural risks, according to UCLA Health.
Despite those challenges, more women are considering egg freezing because of technological advances, expanded insurance and employer coverage, and a trend toward starting families later in life, said Dr. Ilana Ressler, a reproductive endocrinologist at Illume Fertility.
"Egg quantity and quality decline with age no matter how healthy or fit someone is," Ressler added. "More women understand that now, and a growing number of them want to do something about it while they still have the option."
Contributing: Madeline Mitchell, Sara Moniuszko and James Powel, USA TODAY
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AOC says she does not regret sharing decision to freeze her eggs
