What AOC's public egg freezing journey reveals about the cost of fertility.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is freezing her eggs and sharing every part of the process with her 6 million+ followers; the hormone injections, the bloating, the uncertainty, and it's got Soph and Emma asking what egg freezing actually costs. In this episode, we cover the real price of freezing your eggs (upfront costs plus the ongoing storage fees nobody mentions), why only 6% of women who freeze their eggs ever go on to use them, why 35-37 (not your 20s) is when most women can actually afford to do it, the booming $129 billion surrogacy industry sparked by the backlash to Cameron Diaz's third child, and why so many fertility decisions; whether to freeze eggs, use a surrogate, or have kids at all, come down to money rather than choice. Content warning: this episode contains strong language and discusses fertility struggles and reproductive health candidly. Read the full New York Times story on the global surrogacy industry in Ukraine, including how the war affected surrogate mothers: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/magazine/surrogates-ukraine.html Catch our full conversation with Deirdre from Hertility on fertility testing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmi_ba-58nQ Thanks so much to Generate for making The Curve Weekly possible. Generate has a really impressive 10-year track record, to find out more about their performance click here: generatekiwisaver.co.nz/performance. But remember, a great track record doesn’t guarantee future returns! If you’d like to speak to an advisor, to see if Generate is right for you, you can book time with someone here: https://www.generatewealth.co.nz/curve Credits: Hosts: Sophie Hallwright & Vic Harris Producer: Emily Rigby Editor: Kate Callaghan Social & Digital Manager: Lucy Munro ⁠⁠Leave us a message on The Curve Hotline 💌☎️⁠⁠ (https://thecurveplatform.com/pages/the-curve-hotline) For more from The Curve:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ (https://thecurveplatform.com/) ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ (https://www.instagram.com/thecurveplatform/)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠⁠ (https://youtube.com/@thecurveplatform?si=nlCWqqqySWOzYlj3) ⁠TikTok⁠⁠ (https://www.tiktok.com/@thecurveplatform)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ (https://thecurve.co.nz/pages/sign-up-to-the-curve-weekly) Substack (https://thecurveplatform.substack.com/) Chapters 00:00:00 Coming up in this episode… 00:01:10 Generate x The Curve 00:01:29 Catching up: Edinburgh Fringe and financial confessions 00:06:57 AOC's public egg-freezing journey sparks a bigger question 00:12:37 The affordability of egg freezing 00:26:39 The real numbers 00:42:40 Generate x The Curve 00:43:18 Inside the booming surrogacy industry 01:00:00 The dating crisis, and why it changes everything 01:11:50 Thank you for listening! 01:12:30 Financial disclaimer Disclaimer: Raising The Curve has been prepared solely for informational and educational purposes. Any information provided and serviced described in this website are intended to be of general nature and provide general information only. The opinions expressed by The Curve do not constitute investment advice. Generate’s Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Advice Provider License can be found here: GenerateKiwiSaver.co.nz/disclosures. *Morningstar KiwiSaver Survey March Quarter End 2026. The Generate Focused Growth Fund returns have ranked in the top three of NZ Multi Sector Aggressive Category Funds for 10 year returns every quarter since becoming eligible in June 2023. Most recently the fund ranked 2nd out of 10 funds for 10 year returns to 31 March 2026.