US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is freezing her eggs to “really feel extra answerable for her life,” she announced on social media Saturday. The 36-year-old has not mentioned whether or not she plans to have youngsters however mentioned she had been saving up for the method.
Egg freezing, formally known as oocyte preservation, is likely one of the clearest methods to increase a girl’s childbearing years. It entails extracting eggs from the ovaries and preserving them till the lady hopes to grow to be pregnant.
Elective egg freezing has grow to be far more fashionable over the previous decade because the approach has gotten higher and extra ladies have chosen to delay being pregnant. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, joins media character Kourtney Kardashian, actor Rebel Wilson and actor Florence Pugh, amongst others, in sharing plans to freeze eggs. Right here’s what to know concerning the course of.
Egg freezing is best in a girl’s 20s or early 30s, when she sometimes has extra viable eggs.
“The reply is often, the youthful the higher,” mentioned Dr. Pardis Hosseinzadeh, assistant professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Medication. “Girls who do that process earlier than the age of 35 sometimes have higher outcomes when it comes to the standard and amount of the eggs which can be retrieved. Each the variety of eggs and the standard of these eggs decline with age.”
Not like males, who produce new sperm day by day, ladies are born with all of the eggs they’ll ever have. Over time, the quantity and high quality of her eggs decline.
A feminine child is often born with about 1 million to 2 million eggs. That quantity drops by about 10,000 a month earlier than puberty and by about 1,000 a month after puberty.
Components corresponding to smoking and drugs use can even have an effect on that offer. By age 30, a girl has about 70,000 eggs left; by 40, about 18,000. After 40, about half are irregular and unlikely to end in being pregnant. By menopause – which typically happens between the ages of 45 and 55 – the remaining eggs should not fertile.
A girl eager about freezing her eggs first has a bodily examination to find out whether or not she is an effective candidate. A physician evaluations her medical historical past, orders blood and hormone exams, and performs a transvaginal ultrasound to estimate egg provide. A poor candidate could be somebody who has a low variety of eggs, uncontrolled medical points or a hormone-sensitive most cancers.
If she qualifies, a physician prescribes hormones, based mostly totally on her age and egg reserve, Hosseinzadeh mentioned. The affected person injects them for as much as two weeks to encourage the ovaries to provide as many wholesome eggs as attainable.
They embrace follicle-stimulating medication corresponding to Gonal-F and Follistim, which assist ovarian follicles – tiny fluid-filled sacs inside a girl’s overy that every maintain one immature egg – develop. FSH and menotropin stimulate egg manufacturing within the follicles and immediate the ovaries to launch eggs. GnRH antagonists block hormones within the pituitary gland to stop the affected person from ovulating early.
Common blood exams and ultrasounds observe the affected person’s progress to assist sign when the eggs have matured. Then, 36 hours earlier than the eggs are retrieved, the affected person takes set off treatment corresponding to Lupron, Ovidrel, Novarel or Pregnyl to provoke ultimate egg maturation.
A physician retrieves the eggs by way of an ultrasound-guided outpatient process beneath normal anesthesia. The process takes 10 to half-hour, and most girls can return to work the subsequent day, mentioned Dr. Mindy Christianson, chief of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Follow at Cleveland Clinic Fertility Center.
An embryologist checks whether or not the eggs are mature sufficient to be fertilized later. They then endure vitrification, a rapid-freezing course of that makes use of liquid nitrogen, and are saved till the affected person is able to use them.
As a result of egg freezing is comparatively new, it’s not clear precisely how lengthy eggs will be saved, but it surely’s believed to be many years.
Liquid nitrogen storage pauses mobile exercise, so the egg mustn’t degrade over time.
Dangers and unwanted effects
Fertility hormone injections could cause some discomfort, however unwanted effects are often gentle. Some folks have temper swings, complications, nausea or scorching flashes. As soon as the hormone photographs cease, these signs sometimes go away.
In extraordinarily uncommon circumstances, hormone injections can set off a situation known as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. The ovaries might swell, and fluid can leak into the stomach. Gentle circumstances will be handled with relaxation, fluids and electrolytes. Extreme circumstances might require hospitalization and fluid drainage.
Some high-profile tech corporations, together with Meta and Apple, have advertised egg freezing as an worker perk. however most insurance coverage doesn’t cowl the associated fee except there’s a medical motive, corresponding to forward of most cancers therapies that may injury or destroy a girl’s eggs. One 2024 survey of large-company worker profit plans discovered that about 21% coated elective egg freezing.
Even AOC said she needed to save for the process as a result of her insurance coverage doesn’t cowl it. Costs range and might climb into the 1000’s of {dollars}.
“Ballpark, I’d say it’s round $10,000 to $15,000,” mentioned Dr. Jen Eaton, president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Know-how.
Egg storage is often billed individually and might value as much as about $1,000 a 12 months, relying on the power. Eaton advises checking native amenities for particular prices and remembering that these prices don’t embrace in-vitro fertilization remedy if the affected person later chooses to make use of the eggs.
Elective egg freezing can supply extra flexibility and management over reproductive well being. Surveys present that ladies freeze their eggs for many reasons; they may wish to end college, grow to be extra financially secure or advance their careers earlier than having youngsters.
“Many instances, they don’t have quick plans to pursue fertility, however they do have this intense want or dream to grow to be a mom, and it’s one thing that’s weighing on them as they’re pursuing different issues like profession or training, of they haven’t discovered the fitting match [in a relationship], they usually don’t need this to be a motive to accept a relationship that’s not proper,” Hosseinzadeh mentioned.
A 2026 Nationwide Science Basis survey discovered what researchers known as a “mating hole.”
In a commentary concerning the survey, Marcia Inhorn, a Yale College anthropologist and creator of “Motherhood on Ice,” described it this way: “Extremely educated, heterosexual, skilled ladies need the three P’s of partnership, being pregnant and parenthood, however are lacking the three E’s of eligible, educated and equal male companions. Thus, they flip to egg freezing to protect and lengthen their fertility whereas ready for a mate who might or might not materialize.”
Egg freezing has grow to be far more widespread up to now decade, Eaton mentioned. In 2024, there have been greater than 39,000 egg retrieval or freezing cycles in the US, up from 6,090 in 2014.
Christianson mentioned she has seen an uptick in curiosity at her apply in Beachwood, Ohio. About 25% of the sufferers she sees are folks eager about freezing their eggs.
“We undoubtedly see when celebrities freeze their eggs, and likewise when folks’s pals begin freezing eggs, extra folks are available in, as nicely,” she mentioned. “After they hear about others doing it, it validates their choice and curiosity.”
Individuals are additionally having youngsters later, Christianson mentioned, which has elevated curiosity in egg freezing. The typical girl with a university diploma now has her first baby after age 35, a shift from many years in the past, when many had youngsters of their 20s.
Sufferers usually fear that the method will probably be daunting, Hosseinzadeh mentioned, however clinics supply help all through.
When an individual desires to make use of her eggs, they’re thawed and fertilized with sperm from a companion or a donor by way of IVF.
Up to now, comparatively few individuals who freeze their eggs have gone forward with utilizing them, a February study found. However examine co-author Dr. Mabel Lee mentioned extra ladies are doing in order the process turns into extra widespread.
“Even anecdotally, in my apply, it has grow to be extra frequent to have folks are available in saying, ‘I’ve eggs frozen from again within the day, and I wish to use them now,’ ” mentioned Lee, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at HRC Fertility.
Elective egg freezing was thought of experimental till about 2013, when freezing methods improved. Earlier makes an attempt usually broken eggs as a result of ice crystals shaped throughout freezing; flash-freezing helps keep away from that drawback.
Every day injections might sound intimidating or “scary,” Lee mentioned, and it’s an intensive two-week interval, “however I really feel like more often than not, the suggestions that I get from sufferers who’re going by way of that is, ‘oh, that was a lot simpler than I anticipated.’ ”
Sufferers ought to do not forget that freezing eggs does not guarantee pregnancy, Eaton mentioned.
She appreciates that movie star disclosures have raised consciousness concerning the process, however she mentioned they’ll additionally ship the incorrect message in the event that they make egg freezing look like a easy insurance coverage coverage towards infertility.
”I believe rising consciousness round that is nice. I’d simply warning folks towards considering that it’s a assure. I believe plenty of celebrities sadly convey it like it’s, that now they don’t have to fret about their fertility anymore,” mentioned Eaton, who can also be chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility and director of the Fertility Middle at Brown College.
Freezing might assist protect eggs, however an individual’s uterus nonetheless ages, elevating their threat of being pregnant issues.
Hosseinzadeh mentioned she sometimes tells sufferers to think about egg freezing as a type of insurance coverage plan. In the event that they’re youthful, they might not even want to make use of their frozen eggs, since they can get pregnant the pure method after they’re prepared. “However,” she mentioned, “don’t wait too lengthy.”
