Key Takeaways

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sara Jacobs are publicly undergoing egg freezing procedures to manage career demands.
• Both politicians cite the lack of paid parental leave as a major obstacle for working mothers in the US.
• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving the Trump administration to prioritize family time with her children.
• Only a fraction of US workers have access to paid family leave, unlike many other industrialized nations.
• Experts note that flexible schedules and equal partnership in parenting are critical for women pursuing high-level careers.

Last week, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced she was beginning the process of egg freezing, documenting her daily hormone injections on social media. This move joins Representative Sara Jacobs, who previously shared her own experiences with the procedure, sparking a broader national conversation about reproductive choices in politics.

The announcement coincided with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s decision to leave the Trump administration. Leavitt stated she could not be the best mother to her two young children while managing the constant demands of the press secretary role, highlighting the immediate personal costs of high-level government service.

Jacobs, 37, revealed that last summer she would rush to her office to self-administer hormone injections before returning to Congress. She described the second round of egg freezing as an empowering decision that granted her more agency, despite the physical toll. "Your body hurts. Your hormones are crazy. It's kind of like puberty and menopause at the same time," Jacobs said. She announced her intention to undergo the process in 2021, noting that few lawmakers discussed the topic in the halls of Congress at that time.

The medical procedure involves doctors harvesting eggs from the ovaries and freezing them for future use. It can cost more than $10,000 and is rarely covered by insurance. Jacobs has now completed two rounds of the process and plans to delay having children while her job requires frequent travel between California and Washington. "Figuring out how to be a mum when I'm gone half the time across the country, it's logistically complicated," she explained.

This discussion arises in a country that is an outlier among industrialized nations for not mandating paid parental leave. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than a quarter of workers in the US have access to paid family leave through their employers. In contrast, more than 120 nations, including all European countries, provide such leave. The lack of institutional support forces many women to navigate these challenges individually or through private means.

The Structural Gap in American Workplaces

Women in politics and other high-demand careers are increasingly turning to reproductive technologies and flexible arrangements to manage their professional and personal lives. Michele Heisler, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, gave birth to her first child after returning to medical school at age 30. She was pregnant with her son during her third year of medical school. Heisler, now medical director for Physicians for Human Rights, credited her career success to access to resources, including nannies, and a husband who was an equal partner in parenting.

"Unless it's clear that both are equal parents, [child rearing] is always going to fall on the woman, and then you're going to have to take a step back in some way," Heisler said. She noted that a flexible schedule allowed her to pursue her career fully, staying up late to work and waking up at 05:00 to complete research so she could spend time with her children.

Seema Patel, an associate professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, also utilizes late-night work hours to avoid missing moments with her children. "The reality is that these years in your kids' lives are so fleeting, and I'm super aware of the time," she said. Patel, who works as a workers' rights lawyer, has seen how lower-wage workers often lack access to paid time off. She recalled her boss advising her, as a new attorney, to save vacation days in case she ever wanted children. "I was a brand new, young attorney who had not even contemplated that stage of my life, but I had to in that moment, face that question of - I better be saving my vacation days," Patel said.

Patel worked for San Francisco's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, the first local government in the US to pass a law requiring paid parental leave. However, she acknowledged the disparity between such local advancements and the federal government, which, like many US employers, does not offer paid parental leave.

The demographic landscape is shifting as well. From 2016 to 2023, the average age of all mothers giving birth in the US rose from 28.7 to 29.6, according to a 2025 report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More women are choosing to have children at older ages or not at all. Jacobs noted that Congress and the general American workplace were designed by and for men who often had stay-at-home spouses handling domestic work. "Both Congress and the general American workplace were designed by and for men who had often stay-at-home spouses who handled all of the domestic work," she said.

Despite these hurdles, Jacobs expressed admiration for lawmakers who manage to raise children while serving. Only a handful of women have given birth while in Congress, and a few dozen are mothers to children under 18. "Both Congress and the general American workplace were designed by and for men who had often stay-at-home spouses who handled all of the domestic work," Jacobs reiterated, underscoring the need for systemic change.

Patel, whose children are now 13, 11, and seven, admits that the juggling act remains difficult even with leave and a dedicated partner. "I have a high-producing job," she said. "How can I do that while also being there for your kids and attentive to them? I don't have an answer."

US Politics Confronts the Reality of Unpaid Caregiving

The visible actions of Representatives AOC and Jacobs, alongside Press Secretary Leavitt’s departure, illuminate the structural inadequacies of the US labor market. As more women delay childbirth and pursue high-level careers, the reliance on private solutions like egg freezing and personal savings of vacation days highlights the urgent need for federal policy reform. Without mandatory paid parental leave, the burden of caregiving will continue to disproportionately affect women’s professional trajectories, potentially limiting diversity in leadership roles. The trend of rising maternal age suggests that reproductive technologies may become increasingly common among professionals, further emphasizing the gap between personal adaptation and institutional support.