Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced over the weekend that she is freezing her eggs as she considers her political future, including a potential 2028 presidential or Senate run, with her fiancé Riley Roberts standing by her side through the personal decision.
The 36-year-old New York congresswoman posted a series of videos on Instagram Saturday describing the fertility preservation procedure as a choice to “feel more in control of my life.” She acknowledged taking a “political risk” by discussing such a personal matter publicly, but said she wanted to normalize conversations about the challenges women face in balancing career and family planning.
In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez confirmed she has not ruled out running for president or for the U.S. Senate seat held by fellow Democrat Chuck Schumer in 2028. Her first major Sunday news program appearance since 2024 sparked fresh speculation about her political ambitions as she approaches a critical decision point in her career.
Roberts, a 38-year-old web developer, has been Ocasio-Cortez’s fiancé since April 2022, when he proposed in her family’s hometown of Puerto Rico. The couple met at Boston University during undergraduate years at a weekly debate event and dated throughout college before breaking up after graduation. They later reconnected and have been together ever since, according to reporting from People magazine and Business Insider.
Unlike his high-profile partner, Roberts maintains a deliberately low public presence. After graduating from Boston University, where he studied sociology and finance, he moved to Arizona and worked for web design and advertising startups before co-founding Homebinder, a subscription home-management service, in 2014. He later returned to New York and worked out of the apartment he and Ocasio-Cortez shared in the Bronx while she organized for Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
Roberts has been instrumental in Ocasio-Cortez’s political career behind the scenes. He assisted with digital marketing and social media outreach during her early organizing work and even appeared in the 2019 documentary “Knock Down the House,” which chronicled her 2018 congressional campaign. Director Rachel Lears told Business Insider that Roberts had been “a really important partner to her” in “everything from the emotional to the strategic to the practical.”
Ocasio-Cortez framed her egg-freezing decision within the broader context of Trump administration policies on reproductive healthcare. “In this political environment, where this administration is denying reproductive care to women across the country, from abortion rights to the ability to carry out a healthy pregnancy, I think it’s important for us as leaders to have these conversations,” she said in her Sunday interview.
She also highlighted a double standard she sees in how women in politics are scrutinized compared to men. “Men run for office, or frankly they interview for jobs, and people don’t think in the back of their minds, ‘OK, this guy’s running for office, how old is he? Oh, well, is he going to want to start a family?'” Ocasio-Cortez said, pointing to the different expectations placed on women regarding family planning and career advancement.
Ocasio-Cortez’s mother, Blanca Ocasio-Cortez, has previously expressed enthusiasm for Roberts. “I love him,” she told the Daily Mail in 2019. “He is the most loving, supporting person I’ve seen. He helped her tremendously during the election.” She noted that both her daughter and Roberts “love children” and “do very well with children from the family.”
The congresswoman did not specify in her announcement whether she intends to have children, choosing instead to focus on the autonomy the procedure provides as she weighs major career decisions ahead of 2028. Her openness about the fertility preservation process has reignited broader conversations about reproductive healthcare access and the pressures women face when balancing professional ambitions with personal life choices.
Sources
- PBS News — AOC’s announcement about freezing her eggs and her 2028 political deliberations
- Newsweek — Details about Riley Roberts’ background, their relationship history, and AOC’s statements about gender double standards
- Washington Post — AOC’s decision to freeze eggs and her motivation to feel more in control
- CNN — Overview of egg-freezing process and AOC’s announcement
- The Guardian — AOC’s egg-freezing announcement and her plans to share the process online
