Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has finished her egg-freezing process and says she plans to keep speaking openly about the experience, even after noting last week that her social media updates had drawn a wave of “negativity.”
The 36-year-old Democrat, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, shared the final step of the roughly two-week fertility process with her nearly 10 million Instagram followers on Saturday, documenting egg retrieval day beginning at 5:30 a.m.
Ocasio-Cortez added a personal touch to the morning by wearing skincare eye masks before the procedure, saying she felt it was “a really nice way to bring some lightness to this process.”
Once the retrieval was over, Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said she was given her final results, including the total number of eggs retrieved and how many of them were mature.
“As I’ve mentioned previously, out of respect for all the different kinds of fertility and family journeys that people have, I will not be sharing my specific numbers,” she told followers.
Rather than encouraging broad assumptions or fear about fertility, Ocasio-Cortez said she hopes people focus on their own medical information and seek guidance from licensed fertility specialists. “So instead of focusing on generalizations and fear, I instead want to encourage people to operate from the facts of your body specifically and knowledge of our reproductive systems,” she said.
The congresswoman also described a conversation with her doctor, who walked her through the egg retrieval and explained that she would be under anesthesia and asleep throughout the procedure.
In the video, which had comments limited, Ocasio-Cortez said that explanation triggered a sudden fear. “And as I sat on the other side of my doctor’s desk, I had this sudden intrusive fear-based thought. I imagined myself waking up totally alone,” she said.
“Now when I fast-forward a couple of weeks later at the end of today, I can really confidently say that I couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact I woke up surrounded by the deepest and most important friendships in my entire life,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
“I think that it really drove home that a family is always what you make it,” she added, making no mention of her longtime fiancé Riley Roberts.
The lefty legislator announced on Aug. 8 that she was freezing her eggs and began unleashing a series of social media posts taking the public through the process.
Following the announcement that she was freezing her eggs to feel “more in control of my life,” speculation began to swirl over whether AOC had quietly split with Roberts.
The 36-year-old congresswoman, who is rumored to be mulling a bid for higher office in 2028, underwent the two-week process during the August recess, when the US House of Representatives is out of session for over a month.
Despite commenting last week about the scrutiny and media frenzy she’s faced since sharing her journey, and telling a Post reporter that she doesn’t “comment on my private life” when asked about her relationship status with her fiancé — AOC promised to continue sharing updates as she recovers from the procedure.
“Many of you have asked if I will do a few more videos after my procedure day. The answer is yes!” she wrote on Instagram Saturday.
“I will be following up with a few more vlogs to show recovery and answer some final questions and topics,” she concluded, before thanking her followers for their well wishes which “made an impact.”
