With an unpopular war and high prices agitating voters, members of both parties see parallels to an election cycle when Democrats romped. But a lot has changed.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

A foreign policy specialist, she was politically savvy and well versed in global issues, and traveled widely with her husband, Henry A. Kissinger, on his diplomatic missions.

© David Rubinger/Corbis, via Getty Images

A foreign policy specialist, she was politically savvy and well versed in global issues, and traveled widely with her husband, Henry A. Kissinger, on his diplomatic missions.

© David Rubinger/Corbis, via Getty Images

Some lawmakers and their families have traded millions of dollars worth of stocks since the start of this term.

© Jeenah Moon/Reuters

The congresswoman’s decision is an assertion of women’s freedom and dignity at a time when our status is rapidly eroding

“Don’t be weird about this,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive star and rumored 2028 presidential contender, said on her live video broadcast as she raised her shirt to angle the syringe into her abdomen. Then, with resignation, “even though I know all of you will be.”

The New York Democrat is 36 years old, and this week she revealed that she is beginning the process of freezing her eggs during Congress’s August recess. In the video, Ocasio-Cortez said that she was seeking to destigmatize the realities of women’s lives as they navigate the conflicting demands of professional aspiration and family building; she explained to viewers the process of the hormonal injections she was administering to herself, showing them the drugs and injector she was using arrayed on a paper towel, beside a disinfecting towelette. The procedure, Ocasio-Cortez explained, was not covered by her insurance, and she would be paying “100% out of pocket”. She had been saving to afford it for some time. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” she said, going on to assert her hope that transparency about such questions will destigmatize women’s reproductive lives and promote their dignity.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images