Ocasio-Cortez says she is freezing her eggs and still mulling a presidential run - West Hawaii Today
Ocasio-Cortez says she is freezing her eggs and still mulling a presidential run Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York posted a series of video clips on social media Saturday night saying that she would freeze her eggs despite what she called a “political risk” for sharing her decision. Ocasio-Cortez, 36, a Democrat who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, made the announcement hours before saying in a TV interview Sunday that she is open to running for president or the Senate. “There is very strangely a political risk, or a political tax, that comes with sharing this info,” she said of her decision to freeze her eggs. She added that she had shared the information “to show more depictions of women having full lives in every context and every choice.” The announcement further fueled speculation on social media that she is gearing up for a presidential run. Asked on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday morning if she would consider a White House bid, she said, “I haven’t ruled out the possibility,” adding that she was “humbled” by the support she is receiving. She also suggested she would consider running for the Senate seat held by the minority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., telling host Jonathan Karl that “anything is possible at this juncture.” But, she added, “I think that we have a responsibility to remain focused on the midterms and not on our individual aspirations or plans.” Her interview Sunday — her first appearance on a major Sunday news show since 2024 — marked her most public suggestion yet of aspirations for higher office. First elected in 2018, she rapidly became a top voice in her party’s ascendant progressive wing. While Ocasio-Cortez identifies as a democratic socialist, she distanced herself in the interview from some of the more radical positions of the Democratic Socialists of America. Asked if she supports all of the tenets of the group’s guiding document, including abolishing the Senate, police and prisons, she said no. She also said she was a member of her local DSA chapter, but not the national group. The comments reflected the somewhat tricky position Ocasio-Cortez finds herself in this year. She has adopted a less confrontational style in her years in Congress, and in some ways, she is more moderate now than the progressive base that propelled her into office. Yet she still needs that base as she eyes her political future. Asked if she believed the DSA’s agenda would “doom” Democrats, she said, “The idea that there’s a diversity of thought in America among everyday voting people is a fundamental fact of our country. I don’t think that we should be worried about what somebody somewhere believes.” On social media, Ocasio-Cortez described her ability to freeze her eggs as a “very privileged position.” “And it’s also a result of I think changes in technology that have made it more financially accessible,” she added. In her interview with ABC News on Sunday morning, Ocasio-Cortez elaborated on her announcement, calling it “badass that I’m going to be giving myself shots in the green room.” “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,” she said. As of noon Sunday, neither President Donald Trump nor any of her colleagues in Congress had responded to her announcement on social media. Ocasio-Cortez, who supports abortion rights, has been vocal regarding her stance on reproductive rights. In July 2022, the House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill she sponsored to codify abortion rights into federal law after the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Ocasio-Cortez and several other members of Congress were arrested the same month at an abortion rights rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington. In her comments about freezing her eggs, Ocasio-Cortez did not specify whether she plans to have children. But she indicated that she has faced questions about her family plans that her male colleagues have not. “This is just not something that men deal with,” she said in one of her Instagram videos. “Men run for office, or frankly they interview for jobs. And people don’t think in the back of their minds, OK, this guy’s running for office, how old is he, oh, well, is he going to want to start a family?” Ocasio-Cortez and Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary, led the field of potential Democratic presidential contenders in a poll of New Hampshire voters in the University of New Hampshire’s “Granite State Poll” of 648 likely voters in July. Discussing her political future Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez also reflected on her past and that of her party. She neither distanced herself from nor explicitly supported Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer who has faced criticism for once saying that America “deserved” the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Piker later walked back the remark.) But she said her fellow Democratic candidates should seek to appeal to audiences across the political spectrum, including both the far left and the far right. “We need to be not so willing to engage in cancel culture,” she said. “Democrats can go on Joe Rogan, Democrats can go on Fox News. Democrats have a responsibility to build a winning coalition, and young people are engaging in mediums and conversations that we have a responsibility to attend to and be responsive to.” She distanced herself from her own past support for such left-wing positions as defunding the police, attributing some of those positions, some of them deeply polarizing, to the political fervor that seized Democrats during the COVID-19 era. Asked whether the left went too far, however, she said the discussions at that time were “fruitful.” “The doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place,” she said. “Of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today, and I’m grateful that these candidates have the opportunity to present who they are to their electorate and what they’re campaigning on in this moment.” Egg freezing can be a lengthy, expensive process that is not always covered by health insurance. It requires women to inject two to three hormone medications every day for roughly 10 days, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Women must also have at least four pelvic ultrasounds and frequent bloodwork panels. When the eggs mature, women undergo surgery to retrieve them. Despite the arduous process, it often fails. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2026 The New York Times Company
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