meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
PBS News Hour - Segments

Gen Z men and women on why they're sharply divided over reproductive rights

PBS News Hour - Segments

PBS NewsHour

News, Daily News

4.11K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A majority of Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but there is a gap between men and women on the issue. That divide is perhaps clearest among Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012. This split is part of a bigger picture about how Gen Z thinks and what they want for their lives. Special correspondent Sarah Varney reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

A majority of Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

0:05.9

But there's a growing gap between men and women on the issue.

0:09.3

And that divide is perhaps clearest among Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012.

0:15.9

But as special correspondent Sarah Varney reports,

0:18.7

this split is part of a bigger picture about how Gen Z thinks

0:22.5

and what they want for their lives.

0:23.8

It's a sunny fall day at Auburn University, and that means students from lots of

0:32.3

campus organizations are outside, trying to get fellow Gen Zers to stop by their tables.

0:37.2

You pick one, you put it into the baggie. Among them is Elizabeth, a 21-year-old from LaGrange, Georgia.

0:45.4

Like many of her peers at this largely conservative Alabama school, Elizabeth considers herself

0:50.9

mostly against abortion. I don't necessarily think abortion is the answer.

0:57.0

But after Roe v. Wade was overturned, and Alabama's near-total abortion ban went into effect,

1:03.0

she was unsure of what would happen next.

1:05.0

You shouldn't feel like you don't have access if it's your life or a child's life. And my biggest thing was, okay, what does that mean for contraception?

1:14.6

And what does that mean for birth control and all of these other things?

1:18.6

It was kind of one of those things I was like, where does that leave us?

1:21.6

With that one door closed, it made me realize the severity of like, oh, like this kind of clicked for me how important this issue is.

1:28.3

21-year-old Leah is a junior from Huntsville.

1:31.3

She believes women should make their own decisions about pregnancy and was stunned by the Supreme Court's ruling.

1:37.3

I was like, oh wow, like I do have peers where access to abortion would make a world's difference in the trajectory of their outcome or the child's

1:45.6

outcome. Both women grew up in Christian churches and say their perspectives are not always shared by men

1:51.5

in their generation. It is unique DNA. It is a life. And to kill it would be murder.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from PBS NewsHour, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of PBS NewsHour and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.