New York Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed she has decided to freeze her eggs and has shared her first steps in the process on social media.
The 36-year-old posted the clips on Sunday, hours before telling ABC News This Week she had not “ruled out the possibility” of running for president.
In the clips, Ocasio-Cortez shows herself taking an injection and talks through tips she has learnt, before answering questions about costs, clinical procedures, storage and how fertility care works under what she calls the US’s “broken” medical system.
In an interview on ABC News she said she wanted to “normalise” conversations about the process.
She said it was important “especially in this political environment”.
“This administration is denying reproductive care to women across the country, from abortion rights to the ability to carry out a healthy pregnancy,” she said. “I think it’s important for us as leaders to have these conversations and share these processes,” she added.
When asked if she would run for president in the 2028 elections after being shown polling reflecting her popularity as a potential candidate, Ocasio-Cortez chuckled and tried to sidestep a direct answer.
“I’m focused on winning the midterms, I’m running for Congress right now,” she said.
But when pushed as to whether she was open to it and whether it was a realistic prospect, she said: “I haven’t ruled out the possibility and I’m very humbled to the tremendous amount of support out there.”
“We have a responsibility to remain focused on the midterms and not on our individual aspirations or plans,” she said.
After she was asked about a possible Senate run against minority leader Chuck Schumer, the US Senate’s top Democrat, Ocasio-Cortez replied that “anything was possible”.
The midterms are held every two years and fall in the middle of the president’s four-year term of office.
They are due to be held in early November. Votes will be cast for all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives, and a third of the 100 seats in the Senate are up for grabs.
