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

[0:00] A majority of Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but there's [0:05] a growing gap between men and women on the issue, and that divide is perhaps clearest [0:10] among Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012. [0:15] But as special correspondent Sarah Varney reports, this split is part of a bigger picture [0:20] about how Gen Z thinks and what they want for their lives. [0:23] SARAH VARNEY, It's a sunny fall day at Auburn University, and that means students from lots [0:31] of campus organizations are outside, trying to get fellow Gen Zers to stop by their tables. [0:37] You pick one, you put it into the baggie. [0:40] SARAH VARNEY, Among them is Elizabeth, a 21-year-old from LaGrange, Georgia. [0:45] Like many of her peers at this largely conservative Alabama school, Elizabeth considers herself [0:50] mostly against abortion. [0:52] I don't necessarily think abortion is the answer. [0:56] But after Roe v. Wade was overturned and Alabama's near-total abortion ban went into effect, she [1:02] was unsure of what would happen next. [1:04] You shouldn't feel like you don't have access if it's your life or a child's life. [1:10] And my biggest thing was, OK, what does that mean for contraception? [1:14] And what does that mean for birth control and all of these other things? [1:18] It was kind of one of those things I was like, where does that leave us? [1:22] With that one door closed, it made me realize like the severity of like, oh, like this kind [1:26] of clicked for me how important this issue is. [1:28] SARAH VARNEY, 21-year-old Leah is a junior from Huntsville. [1:31] She believes women should make their own decisions about pregnancy and was stunned by the Supreme [1:36] Court's ruling. [1:37] I was like, oh, wow, like I do have peers where access to abortion would make a world's difference [1:42] in the trajectory of their life outcome or the child's outcome. [1:46] Both women grew up in Christian churches and say their perspectives are not always shared by [1:50] men in their generation. [1:52] It is unique DNA. [1:53] It is a life. [1:54] And to kill it would be murder. [1:56] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [1:59] I sat down with him and three other Gen Z men who attend Auburn. [2:03] The Bible, they told me, informs their views on abortion. [2:06] I wish I knew the verse, but I know that the Lord tells us. [2:11] The Lord tells us that life begins at conception. [2:14] Montgomery native Parker is a junior. [2:17] It doesn't say those specific words, but when you analyze it, you know what the truth is. [2:23] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [2:24] An overwhelming number of Gen Z women, 76 percent of them, believe abortion should be legal. [2:29] For young men, that number is 59 percent. [2:32] 2022, when Roe v. Wade was overturned, obviously it's a seismic event. [2:37] Was that something that registered for you? [2:38] I did not pay any attention to that. [2:39] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [2:40] Was it like your friends talked about or did you talk about it all in your family or no? [2:45] I didn't think about it at all. [2:47] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [2:48] Ben is a senior at Auburn and grew up in Huntsville. [2:50] We met him at a Turning Point USA event on campus. [2:53] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [2:54] What are your views, though, on the fact that abortion is now illegal in Alabama in particular, [2:58] I guess? [2:59] I like babies. [3:00] I want to have a lot of babies. [3:01] I think if you get someone pregnant, then you got to have the kid. [3:06] I don't see a need for killing babies, but I'm not, like, I don't really look into abortion [3:11] stuff. [3:12] I don't really care, to be honest. [3:13] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [3:14] Everyday Americans have not sat down for even an hour, let alone days or years, thinking [3:19] about all the intricacies of this issue of abortion. [3:22] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [3:23] Tricia Bruce is a sociologist and author. [3:26] She conducted two nationwide studies interviewing hundreds of Americans on their attitudes about [3:31] abortion. [3:32] She shared some of the responses from Gen Z men. [3:34] He says, well, I can't really speak on abortion because, like, I'm not super Christian, but [3:40] I'm also, like, I'm not, like, a woman. [3:42] So, like, that's really none of my business. [3:44] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [3:45] Bruce says religion, age and politics are the biggest influences, but gender also matters. [3:50] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [3:51] Women are more likely to talk about how this issue is more important to them. [3:56] And they're also more likely to hear those stories. [3:59] So three-quarters of our interviewees overall have heard a personal story, know someone personally [4:03] who has had an abortion. [4:04] And I think that's especially true of women. [4:05] RAY SUAREZ- I think Dobbs was such a psychic shock for a lot of women because it took a [4:09] right away that they'd had for a long time. [4:12] And that's not something we've hardly ever seen in the history of America. [4:15] And I think for a lot of women, that changed them. [4:17] ANNAKIN IS A SENIOR FROM RURAL ALABAMA. [4:19] That gendered gap on abortion rights is indicative of a bigger split today, says Ryan Burge. [4:24] He teaches religion and politics at Washington University in St. Louis. [4:27] RAY SUAREZ- I think for a lot of men, they didn't feel that. [4:31] They didn't intuit that like women did. [4:33] And I think that might be one of the reasons we're seeing this divide happen is because [4:37] women keep yelling, like, no, they took our rights away. [4:39] And men go, I don't care, or I don't think of it that way. [4:42] RAY SUAREZ- Burge is a demographer who analyzes religious trends in the U.S. [4:47] He says Gen Z women are more socially progressive than any prior generation of American women. [4:52] RAY SUAREZ- And, meanwhile, Gen Z men, I wouldn't call them conservative, but definitely [4:57] more toward the middle of the spectrum. [4:58] RAY SUAREZ- We showed Burge our interviews from Alabama and asked if they tracked with [5:03] what he sees in the data nationwide. [5:04] RAY SUAREZ- I think men want to keep it the way it was because that benefited men. [5:10] And women obviously want things to change, and they are changing in ways that are benefiting [5:15] women more and more. [5:16] And I think that's what's happening a lot right now with young men is they feel like they're [5:20] the last generation of men who sort of run the show, and they're sort of digging their [5:23] heels in and trying to get as much as they can. [5:25] RAY SUAREZ- Burge says a part of what's happening is that young women are leaving churches [5:30] at a faster rate than Gen Z men. [5:32] RAY SUAREZ- So I think a lot of women, a lot of young women, when they think about religion, [5:35] they go, why would I want to go to an institution on a regular basis that tells me I don't have [5:39] the same rights, that my vote is wrong, that my views on these social issues are incorrect. [5:43] And I'm also surrounded by guys who I really don't want to marry because they agree with [5:47] the teachings of the church, which I don't agree with. [5:50] RAY SUAREZ- In terms of where the pendulum is at, I feel like the women are very unloving [5:56] to the men. [5:57] RAY SUAREZ- That's why, like, they don't cook. [5:58] RAY SUAREZ- Today, young men are also flooded with messages on social media, [6:03] far-right influencers that peddle male supremacy and push back on evolving gender roles. [6:08] RAY SUAREZ- If I have responsibility over her, then I must have a degree of authority. [6:12] You can't be responsible for a dog if it doesn't obey you. [6:14] RAY SUAREZ- And I think it's very interesting that Joe Rogan's podcasts are three hours long. [6:19] Theo Vaughn does a two-hour podcast. [6:21] These guys are filling their heads with content in a way that was not possible. [6:25] I mean, think about even 20 or 30 years ago, how would you be able to pump 15 hours of [6:29] content into one person's brain per week, every week, for years was impossible. [6:33] RAY SUAREZ- One survey found that 60 percent of young men in the U.S. regularly engage with [6:39] content from online masculinity influencers. [6:42] Burge says their messages are helping to shape what Gen Z men want for their future. [6:47] RAY SUAREZ- Ideally, I will make enough money to have a lot of kids. [6:51] RAY SUAREZ- My wife will, this is ideally, stay at home. [6:54] Because, I mean, if I have a lot of kids, someone has to take care of them. [6:57] RAY SUAREZ- And what kind of relationship do you want to have with your partner? [7:01] RAY SUAREZ- Probably the traditional route. [7:03] RAY SUAREZ- I'll probably get to make the final decision. [7:05] RAY SUAREZ- Obviously, we'll talk, come up with the big decisions. [7:10] But I think I'd like to have the final say. [7:12] RAY SUAREZ- A lot of women saw the marriages that our mothers had with our fathers and were saying no. [7:18] RAY SUAREZ- Truth was born and raised in Atlanta. [7:21] At 21 years old, she understands why some Gen Z men are being influenced by sexist voices. [7:27] RAY SUAREZ- I think a lot of boys my age are really, it's easy for them to slip into that pipeline. [7:32] When you're able to feel like, well, I'm a man and I'm better and women should just do this and women should be in the kitchen and just having babies, [7:39] I think that helps with their feeling of loneliness and they're able to bond on that. [7:44] RAY SUAREZ- But she doesn't want to be in a relationship with men who hold those views. [7:48] RAY SUAREZ- What's your experience like been trying to date over the years? [7:51] RAY SUAREZ- I think it's just a lot of misogyny and a lot of controlling that not just I see but also my friends see. [7:57] RAY SUAREZ- And it makes me not want to date. [8:00] I'll have like, I'll go on a few dates but to take it to a serious level. [8:04] RAY SUAREZ- Ten years from now, what do you hope your life will look like? [8:07] RAY SUAREZ- I would say a successful job and hopefully married and ten years down the road, kids on the way and starting a successful family. [8:16] RAY SUAREZ- I mean I do want a large family and that is because I've wanted to be a mother for so long. [8:21] RAY SUAREZ- I don't think it's something that you have to do though. [8:24] RAY SUAREZ- Ryan Burge worries these divisions within Generation Z may be intractable. [8:29] RAY SUAREZ- What women want and what men want are in two completely different directions and I don't know how you reconcile. [8:34] RAY SUAREZ- These are not issues where you can compromise. [8:37] RAY SUAREZ- Like are we going to have children is a binary choice. [8:40] RAY SUAREZ- Are we going to get married in our twenties versus our thirties is sort of a binary choice. [8:44] RAY SUAREZ- As young Americans move out of their parents' homes later, get married later and have fewer children, [8:50] RAY SUAREZ- Gen Z women and men are navigating a new reality. [8:54] RAY SUAREZ- In that broader climate, then you have this kind of renegotiation around what does it mean to be in relationship? [9:01] RAY SUAREZ- What do gender roles look like if there is such a thing? [9:04] RAY SUAREZ- What are the different responsibilities that people carry? [9:08] RAY SUAREZ- What does it feel like to be a woman in America? [9:10] RAY SUAREZ- I think it's definitely hard. [9:12] RAY SUAREZ- I think it's really easy to get caught up in seeing all these horrible things, the attack on access to contraceptives, abortion, [9:19] RAY SUAREZ- However, it's important that we stay empowered and we stay loud and we voice these issues [9:23] RAY SUAREZ- And we fight to get ourselves educated and to put ourselves into roles where we can make change. [9:27] RAY SUAREZ- For PBS NewsHour, I'm Sarah Varney in Auburn, Alabama. [9:31] RAY SUAREZ- Support journalism you trust. [9:45] RAY SUAREZ- Support PBS News. [9:47] RAY SUAREZ- Donate now or even better, start a monthly contribution today. [9:51] RAY SUAREZ-