A MAGA-devotee columnist for the New York Post ripped into Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday for sharing her decision to freeze her eggs with her millions of followers on social media, calling the left-leaning Democratic lawmaker’s documentation of her hormone injections “one of the saddest stories of our time.”
In an op-ed for the conservative tabloid, columnist Miranda Devine dubbed the public-awareness move “AOC’s sad fertility journey” and decried the 36-year-old congresswoman for trying to appear as though she can “have it all.” Devine argues that conservative women know better because they more often choose to step away from pursuing a career to raise children.
According to Devine, AOC “is living out the feminist left’s antiquated mythology of “having it all” — updated with the false promise from the increasingly popular egg freezing industry that you can easily outwit Mother Nature.”
Since opening up about her egg retrieval and freezing process in a series of intimate social media posts, Ocasio-Cortez has become the center of a political debate about motherhood.
Conservative commentators, such as Devine, have argued women should prioritize having and raising children and have dismissed progressive thinkers for using technology to delay motherhood — something more than 40,000 people tried in 2022.
open image in galleryProgressives, including Ocasio-Cortez, have pointed to the conservative criticism as evidence that Republicans are looking for more control over women’s bodies.
“They talk about being pro-family but all the sudden, when a 36-year-old talks about having a baby, they’re mad,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an Instagram video last week.
She added: “How many male members of Congress are they freaking out about having kids after 40? The president had his last kid at 59.”
Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez said she would share her journey with egg-freezing, the process of preserving a woman’s unfertilized eggs to be used later. In doing so, the lawmaker has shed light on how insurance companies often do not cover the costly procedure.
The move appeared to coincide with Ocasio-Cortez and her fiance Riley Roberts ending their long engagement. Leigh Ann Caldwell, Puck News’ chief Washington correspondent, revealed that a “reputable Democratic source” told her about 18 months ago that Ocasio-Cortez and her partner Riley Roberts had ended their engagement.
“AOC stopped wearing her engagement ring several months before that,” Caldwell wrote on X last week. “There have been no public photos of her and Riley together in recent history.”
Her announcement also coincides with data suggesting elective egg-freezing has become more popular, with one UCLA study finding the number of egg-freezing cycles increased by 12,283 between 2014 and 2021.
open image in galleryWhile some choose to freeze their eggs to delay motherhood for personal reasons, some use it to preserve their chances of having children before undergoing certain medical treatments, such as chemotherapy.
In an op-ed for The Guardian, writer Moira Donegan commended Ocasio-Cortez for publicizing her journey at a time when “the principle that women can and should pursue ambitions other than marriage and motherhood turns out to be much more endangered.”
But some have taken Ocasio-Cortez’s announcement as an invitation to criticize a more progressive mindset toward child-rearing.
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh called Ocasio-Cortez’s decision “totally backwards and ridiculous” because the Democratic lawmaker was choosing to have children later in life.
In an op-ed for Fox News, ex-reality TV star Jillian Anderson King claimed reproductive technology makes “motherhood feel less consequential than it is.”
open image in gallerySome conservatives have pushed back on the critiques.
Alexa Henning, a conservative political consultant, responded to Walsh’s criticism, “Conservative men dunking on AOC for freezing her eggs, is not a winning message with women voters.”
Katie Miller, a podcaster and the wife of Stephen Miller, applauded Ocasio-Cortez for potentially inspiring other women to have children.
“If one woman wants to preserve her right to have children, which means more than having none—we should celebrate that,” Miller said, cavaeting that more women should do so while they’re young.