Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Claps Back at Criticism Over Freezing Her Eggs: Cant Ever Be Me

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is shutting down the haters over her decision to freeze her eggs.

During an Instagram Story Q&A on Wednesday, August 12, Ocasio-Cortez, 38, received a supportive message in which an unknown follower hoped the politician could “ignore the idiotic Republican men saying dumb things” about her.

“They hate me ‘cause they ain’t me, and they can’t ever be me,” Ocasio-Cortez quipped in a video shared via her Instagram Stories, flashing a smile to the camera.

The New York congressman announced earlier this month that she recently began the process to freeze her eggs. As Ocasio-Cortez planned to document the journey via social media, she was met with an onslaught of criticism about her career aspirations, her age and more.

Related: Celebrities Who’ve Opened Up About Freezing Their Eggs

Over the years, celebrities have opened up about freezing their eggs — including medical and personal reasons for taking control of their fertility. “Doing ovarian reserve is important for me, because I’m fortunate enough to have that as an option,” Halsey said during an April 2018 The Doctors appearance, noting she made her choice after […]

She further addressed the commentary on Wednesday, answering another user’s question about whether she was still “young enough to have kids traditionally.”

“The answer is yes, and also my biology does support that. One aspect to egg-freezing in this process that, I think, really is under-discussed is that a lot of people don’t freeze their eggs for their first child,” she stated. “They may freeze their eggs for their second child or even a third child. People may want to space their kids out, people may want to start and have their first kid a little bit later. If they decide later that they want a second kid and they try and it’s a little challenging, they can turn to banked eggs.”

As for Ocasio-Cortez, she recently shared that she had her own reasons for starting the egg-freezing process.

Thank You!

You have successfully subscribed.

“Usually, I keep my private life quite private, but I have made the decision to start freezing my eggs,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a Saturday, August 8, social media upload. “I want to share this because I was weighing it for a very long time, and I think that I was saving for it for a very long time and there just isn’t a ton out there [about it], I feel.”

She continued at the time, “Sometimes it can feel very daunting, and as women in general, we are not taught about our bodies, we are not prepared for our own lives whether that is in puberty, whether that is in pregnancy, whether that is in perimenopause [or] menopause, whether that is in so many different aspects of our lives, whether that is if you have a condition like PCOS, whether you want to plan to have a family or you don’t plan to have children, biologically or what have you.”

Ocasio-Cortez, who reportedly ended her engagement from college sweetheart Riley Roberts earlier this year, stressed that she decided to freeze her eggs to “feel more in control” of her life.