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The controversy surrounding Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to freeze her eggs reminds us that women’s bodies are still a battlefield.
Burdened by the expectations of patriarchal societies, for millennia,
women’s bodies were considered, in various ways, spoils of war, battlefields, and objects of exchange—to which a dowry proportionate to the family’s wealth was added at the time of marriage—but also a source of gossip, a temple of fertility, and a collective good, on which anyone was entitled to express their opinion, regardless of the personal wishes of those directly involved. Centuries later, feminist battles, laws, and referendums have not been enough to change things, if even today a personal choice like cryopreserving one’s oocytes still causes a stir.
Preserving fertility
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez knows this well, and she turned such a decision into a political act. A member of the House of Representatives for New York State since 2019, the 36-year-old American congresswoman chose to preserve her fertility by resorting to
social freezing. This technique, developed in the 1980s, has been widely used in Italy, especially in the early years following the introduction of Law 40 of 2004 on assisted reproduction . Although very expensive, it allows women to keep the door open to motherhood without having to choose between their private life and their career.
Having control of your life
For Alexandria, born in New York in 1989 but of Puerto Rican descent, this is a decision she can no longer postpone. “I want to be in full control of my life. It’s a personal matter, and it took me a long time to make this decision,” she explained on her Instagram profile, where from the beginning she has documented with videos and photos the moments when she self-administers hormone injections to facilitate the overproduction of eggs, which will then be frozen.
A divisive choice
It goes without saying that the media coverage of such a gesture has divided public opinion. In particular, a clip, also reposted by The Times, which shows the woman injecting herself with hormones just before a television interview , all in front of the camera, caused a stir online. This was enough to spark an online debate between those who believe it is necessary to directly expose such sensitive issues, especially in a historical period that saw first the Supreme Court overturning the famous Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 2022 and then Donald Trump’s cut in funding for in vitro fertilization. Those who instead believe that Ocasio-Cortez’s gesture is pure propaganda . A somewhat clumsy attempt—according to some—to reposition herself ahead of a possible presidential candidacy in 2028.
The end of the relationship with her long-time boyfriend
The controversy surrounding the congresswoman’s choice was further fueled by news of the end of her relationship with her longtime partner, Riley Roberts . The couple, who met at 19 at Boston University, reportedly began dating a few years later and then got engaged in 2022. However, about eighteen months ago, Alexandria and Riley reportedly broke up. This unexpected development, however, went unnoticed as the couple had always been careful to protect their privacy. This was until the desire to undergo egg cryopreservation shed light on the reasons for the decision, which is justified by the fact that the woman is not currently in a stable relationship, but that this does not mean she wants to preclude herself from having children with a future partner.