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August 10, 2026 / 11:46 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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Washington — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had one request for the internet as she pointed at the camera and injected the first shot of her egg-freezing protocol: "Don't be weird about this, even though I know all of you will be.""That wasn't so bad," she said after she injected the shot into her lower abdomen. The 36-year-old representative from New York — and a potential 2028 presidential hopeful — is spending her August recess freezing her eggs, joining tens of thousands of women in the U.S. who have undergone the same journey in hopes of having children at some point in the future. After a fertility clinic is decided upon and initial tests are run, the process involves about two weeks of daily self-iinjections of hormones and regular visits to the fertility clinic. Next comes a "trigger shot," followed by a retrieval of the eggs under sedation. Then, the eggs are flash-frozen and stored. Ocasio-Cortez said she'll be documenting the process and answering questions women have. The cost, she said, was one of the most stressful parts for her as she considered the process — at least $8,000 for her. Those costs can run as high as $15,000 to $20,000 per cycle, plus monthly or annual storage costs, and generally aren't covered by insurance. That doesn't include the thawing of the eggs or the IVF process. "My insurance does not cover one penny of this," Ocasio-Cortez said in her Instagram story. "It is 100% out of pocket. It doesn't go to my deductible. Nothing. It covers nothing." Ocasio-Cortez' decision to freeze her eggs is only fueling more speculation about her potential 2028 ambitions. She said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday that she hasn't ruled out running for president or the U.S. Senate.
