Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Freezes Her Eggs

Two clips from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this weekend — one distancing herself from leftist excess of the past and the other announcing that she will spend her August recess from Congress freezing her eggs — could presage a run for president in 2028. CBS News reckons that the 36 year-old solon’s “decision to freeze her eggs is only fueling more speculation about her potential 2028 ambitions.” Could it also nudge her centerward? First, ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked her about the outré statements of Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, which included wariness on the part of the former chef toward celebrating Thanksgiving. AOC responded that “Woke One was crazy,” referencing Democrats’ fervor at the time of the pandemic. The city councilman Chi Ossé — “Woke One” is his phrase — reposted that clip and referred to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez as “Madame President.” The congresswoman stopped far short of disavowing the leftist cultural agenda that blossomed a half-decade ago, but did reflect that the “rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today.” These columns have noted how even AOC’s impeccable leftism is not enough for a new generation of radicals. The likes of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Darializa Chevalier are even more implacably devoted to a socialist and anti-Israel agenda. The Nation’s Bhaskar Sunkara declares that “AOC is more progressive than socialist.” A friend and biographer of Mr. Mamdani, Ross Barkan, reckons that for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez to find her footing in a Democratic Party that is lurching to the left she “needs to be more pro-Palestine and anti-Israel, and more willing to spar” with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. To run for president, he reckons, she needs “every last activist in her corner.”That brings us to the video, posted to Instagram, in which Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who is engaged, disclosed that she is freezing her eggs. She tells the camera — meaning her audience of some 9.6 million followers — “Don’t be weird about this, even though I know all of you will be.” She explains that “this is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life.” As fertility markers in America are at record lows, demand for egg freezing is spiking. This, not to put too fine a point on it, is coming from her. “My insurance does not cover one penny of this,” Ocasio-Cortez explains in her Instagram story. “It is 100% out of pocket. It doesn’t go to my deductible. Nothing. It covers nothing.” That could presage a campaign promising Medicare for All, which has long been a pet cause for the congresswoman. Or it could underscore just how ardent she is in thinking about children and protecting her options.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s preservation of the possibility of a family could in time pull her to the right. One study out of Tulane from 2022 that surveyed 2,610 people in 10 countries — and archival data of 400,000 individuals in 88 countries — found that “Parental status and parental care motivation were robustly associated with social conservatism.” The American Enterprise Institute finds that “having children probably also makes people more conservative.”You heard it here first. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s freezing her eggs signals that for all of her political ambitions — or maybe on account of them — the congresswoman from Queens, who once sided with the Wall Street Journal editorial page over subsidies for Amazon, is contemplating children. As the 2028 election approaches — for president or for a possible contest with Senator Charles Schumer — could AOC find herself a mother and a nominee?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Freezes Her Eggs

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Freezes Her Eggs

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