Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has announced she will freeze her eggs as she ponders her next political move.
The announcement, and her decision to document the process publicly, is an effort to destigmatize the procedure and normalize the choices women face between their personal and professional lives, Ocasio-Cortez said.
“I want to share this because I was weighing it for a very long time, and there just isn’t a ton out there and it can feel daunting. We as women are not taught, we are not prepared for our own lives, whether in puberty, pregnancy, menopause,” she said. “There need to be more depictions of women having full lives in every context.”
Ocasio-Cortez joins a growing number of American women opting to undertake egg freezing in recent years. Here’s what to know about the procedure, and how widespread it is.
What is egg freezing?
Oocyte cryopreservation, or egg freezing, is the process of preserving one’s eggs for future pregnancy.
The fertility procedure usually involves four steps, according to Penn Medicine.
First, ovulation is induced through hormonal supplements in the form of injections or pills. The results of this process are monitored through several visits to a fertility clinic.
When it is determined that the eggs are mature enough for retrieval, a doctor removes the eggs through a vaginal procedure usually conducted under anesthesia.
These eggs are frozen and stored at a laboratory until one would like to use them to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization, at which point the eggs are thawed, fertilized and implanted as an embryo.
One cycle of egg freezing is typically 10-14 days long, consisting of a doctor’s visit, ultrasound and self-injections of hormones and suppressants.
Why egg freezing?
There are several reasons why women may decide to freeze their eggs.
One might be to gain control over various health outcomes. For someone with a cancer diagnosis, which can deplete the egg reserve over the course of chemotherapy, egg freezing is an option to preserve the chance to have children.
Others who are medical carriers of disease may want to open up options to maximize the viability of their eggs.
How much does egg freezing cost?
When considering whether to freeze your eggs, there are three costs to consider: the freezing procedure, fertility medications and the cost of storage.
“My insurance does not cover one penny of this,” Ocasio-Cortez said on her Instagram. “It is 100% out-of-pocket, doesn’t go to my deductible, covers nothing.”
The cost of freezing varies by location, although New Hope Fertility Center estimates one cycle of egg freezing to cost between $4,200 to $8,000, in addition to $2,000 to $6,000 for egg cycle stimulant medications, and between $500 to $1,000 per year for storage.
FertilityIQ estimates an average egg freezing cycle consisting of hormone stimulation, egg retrieval, and lab processing to be about $16,000, $11,000 for the procedure and $5,000 for medication.
