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Friends - I’m setting aside my Sara-the-Congresswoman hat to share some of the deeply personal, reproductive health choices I recently made in the hopes we can demystify and destigmatize these conversations. (And if you’re just here for the policy insights, I promise those come into play later in the email, too, so keep reading.) I’ve been transparent about my decision to freeze my eggs, and a few weeks ago I shared more about that experience with the publication Refinery29 (you can read that here!). Here’s the short version: My career was hitting a critical milestone right when I had to make some key decisions about my fertility timeline. So, at 32 and in my first year in Congress, I decided to freeze my eggs. Just like so many others in my generation, I was told growing up that you can either prioritize your career or have a family - you can’t do both. But we’re rejecting those societal constraints thanks to advancements in medicine, technology, and health care - and the realities of reproductive health have changed so much in the past few decades. For example, I’ve lived my entire life with the constitutional right to contraception and I’ve exercised it for nearly as long. From the birth control pills I used as a teenager to address debilitating cramps, to the IUD I’ve relied on for years, or the Plan B I’ve picked up over the counter when I needed it. Like so many of my friends, I use apps to track my periods and my fertility. And of course, I’m grateful that I have access to health care professionals with whom I can make these important decisions. The process of freezing my eggs was difficult - physically, emotionally - and was incredibly expensive. And here’s where I put my Congresswoman hat back on: Freezing one’s eggs requires immense resources that very few people have access to, and yet everyone should be afforded the dignity to make the decisions that are right for them and their family. I’m privileged and lucky that I was able to pay out of pocket for this option, but most people can’t do that, and insurance mostly doesn’t cover this process. Freezing my eggs gave me agency over my own life in a way that was incredibly empowering, and I believe everyone should have the option to choose what’s right for them - whether that's fertility preservation, undergoing fertility treatments, deciding not to have a child, or choosing adoption. As a millennial woman in a historically older, male-dominated U.S. Congress, I feel a responsibility to address the challenges facing our generation right now, and to anticipate the challenges of the future. I get to break boundaries and take on a lot of firsts - like becoming the first person in the last 35 years (and maybe ever) to talk about their own period on the House floor! I’m also helping educate my colleagues about fertility treatments, period tracking apps, and reproductive issues in general so that these topics become commonplace - because there’s no way we can successfully expand access to reproductive health care (and ensure it’s affordable, accessible, and stigma-free!) without first engaging in these conversations. Talking openly about all this is an important step - that’s why I’m glad to share my story with you directly, and I hope you’ll feel free to do the same with me. If you’d like to share a personal story about balancing fertility and a career, making reproductive health choices throughout your life, or anything else that’s on your mind, reply to this email. I’d be honored to read what you have to say. Thanks for reading along and sharing in my truth. -Sara Congresswoman Sara Jacobs
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