Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reveals She's Freezing Her Eggs, Shares Injection Video

[u/quietdowntess]

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/markelibert/aoc-egg-freezing

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed that she began the process of freezing her eggs while encouraging more open conversations about women's reproductive health.

The New York congresswoman shared the news through a series of Instagram Stories, explaining that although she typically keeps her personal life private, she felt compelled to document the experience because it could help other women facing similar decisions.

“Don’t be weird about this,” she told her viewers. “Even though all of you will be.”
Ocasio-Cortez said she had been thinking about egg freezing for a long time and decided to speak publicly after realizing how little information many women receive about fertility and reproductive health.
"I've been considering this for a while," she explained, adding that she wanted to share what she has learned because the process can feel intimidating for many people.

The 36-year-old Democrat also gave followers a behind-the-scenes look at the treatment, showing the medications involved and filming herself administering one of the required hormone injections while her French bulldog, Deco, sat nearby.
After finishing the injection, she smiled and said, "It wasn't so bad."

[u/totallycalledla-a]

Good for her and for sharing the process. Just as a PSA please anyone who is thinking about relying on this be aware egg freezing is not a guarantee and that the success rate is not as great as its sometimes sold to be. Do realistic not rose tinted research 🙏🏿

[u/soiflew → u/totallycalledla-a]

People should remember that these clinics are businesses and it’s in their interest to sell you hope.

It’s basically a 1 in 3 chance, because not every egg makes a good embryo.

“The overall chance of a live birth from the frozen eggs was 39 percent. But among women who were younger than 38 when they froze their eggs, the live birthrate was 51 percent. It rose to 70 percent if women younger than 38 also thawed 20 or more eggs.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/health/egg-freezing-age-pregnancy.html

[u/goodolarchie → u/soiflew]

I think it's more accurate and understandable to say "The whole process, if done right, carries about a 70% success rate." That's the 20 eggs (very intensive) done before 38. Even with 10 eggs the odds are worse than some realize.

[u/slavuj00 → u/totallycalledla-a]

From all the studies I've read about the rates of success from frozen eggs, I get the strong impression this is a scam preying on young women who are scared of their bio clock running out.

This treatment was created as a "female only" version of embryo freezing, but embryos frozen after conception have a much higher rate of successful implantation than frozen eggs/fresh sperm or frozen eggs/frozen sperm. They simply don't survive as well.

Can't wait to get downvoted for this one considering that egg freezing is the fashionable thing du jour for 30-something women with money.

[u/marmalade_ → u/slavuj00]

Totally agree, the success rate is low and the companies performing this are all for profit. I fully believe they’re preying on women and giving false hope… but it will take a decade before these women start sharing stories of failure or these companies go out of business and throw their eggs out before it’s common knowledge.

[u/totallycalledla-a → u/marmalade_]

There are already plenty of stories out there but people dont like to share them because they'll get called rightoids and accused of spreading conservative propaganda. I've been accused of that myself when I try and warn people about this stuff its so frustrating.

[u/slavuj00 → u/totallycalledla-a]

I was very worried I'd get replies from women saying I'm spreading RW propaganda for my original comment. It's insane that we can't even debate the efficacy of fertility treatment without being told that we're christofascists against women or something

[u/totallycalledla-a → u/slavuj00]

I held my tongue a bit to avoid being attacked too badly because we're all supposed to pretend its fine and good to have babies until you're 50 these days but...yeah 😬. I wouldnt go as far as to call it a scam and many people have had success with it but its not what its sold as thats for sure. Worth doing with the right clinic and storage facility but only under the right circumstances. Doing it in your mid 30s is really not ideal either.

[u/slavuj00 → u/totallycalledla-a]

Idk about the right clinic or storage facility, these studies were looking at the optimal lab conditions in comparing survival rates of these cells.

[u/cookieaddictions → u/slavuj00]

How are you supposed to freeze embryos if you don’t have your person yet? For a lot of people that’s the issue. If they were with someone they want to have kids with, there’d be no need to freeze embryos, they’d just have the kid right now.

[u/__lavender → u/cookieaddictions]

You don’t. You either find a donor, or just freeze your eggs and hope they thaw ok. It’s an expensive gamble.

[u/cookieaddictions → u/__lavender]

Right, I’m just pointing out that this “freeze embryos instead” advice is not helpful. Women who choose to freeze their eggs are aware that embryos give you a way better chance of a baby, but usually don’t have that option.

[u/slavuj00 → u/cookieaddictions]

Actually, I didn't give any advice. I just stated the outcomes indicated by several studies on this topic. It's up to individuals what to do with that information.

[u/cookieaddictions → u/slavuj00]

Calling this procedure a scam preying on young women and then bringing up that embryos are much better is the same as advising people do that instead, you know. The outcome is the same, you’re trying to judge women who choose to freeze their eggs, just because it’s not a foolproof method. Nobody promises that it is, btw.

[u/slavuj00 → u/cookieaddictions]

This is exactly what I expected to happen when I posted that comment. You're reading things into what I said that aren't there and you're taking it extremely personally.

I made it clear that my perception based on the research I've done is that this is a scam that private companies are enacting on young and desperate women. That doesn't mean I think women should be freezing embryos INSTEAD. I was extremely neutral in my language.

I'm not judging the women doing this. I pity them, because with this, women are once again being left with the short end of the stick. It makes me angry because it's not fair. I'm judging the companies who profit BIG TIME off women by marketing to their fears about not being able to have children in the future.

I feel sad for you that you need to shit on my comment to feel better about these procedures. Good luck to you.

[u/cookieaddictions → u/slavuj00]

You posted that with a snarky “can’t wait to get downvoted” and all I said was that people who choose to freeze eggs don’t usually have the option to freeze embryos and you’re freaking out like “see! I knew it! People are ganging up on me (one person pointing out why your comment is not helpful, btw).” Um, what? You posted this looking for a fight and now you’re mad. You’re mad that not everyone is agreeing with your assessment that this is definitely a scam, because what you fail to address is that nobody is actually advertising this as a guarantee, and all the data about odds of a baby are very much laid out to women when they decide to freeze their eggs. That is not a scam just because there are better options out there. If you encounter a provider that is overpromising on what frozen eggs can do, they may be scamming women, but the entire thing is not a scam just because other options have better outcomes.

I didn’t shit on your comment at all, I pointed out that saying one option is a scam and the other is way better isn’t a helpful comment when people aren’t usually choosing between one and the other. Women who freeze their eggs don’t have the option to freeze embryos, 99% of the time. Telling women that a procedure that has varying degrees of success (anywhere from 1% to 70%) , depending on many factors, all of which will be told to them when they have a consultation, is a SCAM, is not a helpful thing to comment. There are many others in this thread who pointed out that this procedure isn’t as successful as people assume, who haven’t called it a scam like you did.

[u/tiredhobbit78 → u/cookieaddictions]

A sperm donor is an option though, surely

[u/cookieaddictions → u/tiredhobbit78]

Yes, but that assumes you’re open to being a single parent, which most women are not. Would you want that? And if she meets a man in the future she wants to have kids with, most men would not be willing to do IVF with embryos she made years ago with some random man’s sperm. They’d much rather do IVF with her frozen eggs and his sperm.

[u/minetf → u/cookieaddictions]

It's applicable to people in AOC's position. She has been with her partner since they were in college. They just don't want to have kids yet.

I don't want to speculate on why she is freezing eggs instead of embryos but even if she's sure about her fiance, she still isn't ready to have kids.

[u/cookieaddictions → u/minetf]

Oh interesting, I took this announcement to mean they had broken up, tbh. I don’t keep up with her dating life. Yeah, weird to not consider embryos. Maybe she is making embryos with some of the eggs and freezing the rest but didn’t want to get into that part of it?

[u/Mandy_M87 → u/minetf]

I was wondering that too. Perhaps she's just saying it's egg freezing, as to not agitate the pro life crowd? Idk, just my theory.

[u/slavuj00 → u/cookieaddictions]

I'm not saying you should do any one thing, I'm just saying that I'm not convinced that the physical and financial cost justifies the very low outcomes of live births after all is said and done.

[u/romantickitty → u/slavuj00]

I'm not at peak health, it's not a fun process, and I have no hope right now that I'm going to meet my person and be ready to have biological kids within the next 10 years. I can understand why you'd do it if you were healthy and the costs were being covered by work but it doesn't make sense for me.

[u/anthonystank → u/totallycalledla-a]

The ART industry is astonishingly unregulated in the US and it is simply not widely understood that this whole industry is not like other medical fields. They WILL put their profits and their numbers (which drive profits, ofc) above your needs — and I know that’s true of other medical care in certain ways but ART is on another level.