john: tonight on pbs news weekend, why more ob-gyn residents are getting less training in abortion care in post-roe america. then, a new book explores how generation z is shaping american politics. >> i think for those in generation z, both many young men and young women as well. they know that climate change will affect their generation more than older generations.

and so it's galvanized many of them to become involved. john: and high demand for of a condos around the world -- avocados around the world is driving deforestation in mexico. announcer: major fundingor pbs news week and has been provided by. >> consumer cellular. this is sam. this is a pocket dial. i thought i'd let you know with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that's kind of everything. have a nice day. announcer: and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. john: good evening, i'm john yang. violence spread in the middle east today as a jordanian gunman killed three israelis at a sensitive crossing between the west bank and jordan. it was at the allenby bridge, which spans the jordan river and is the main route for west bank palestinians to travel abroad. israeli officials said the gunman approached from the jordanian side, got out of a truck and opened fire at isreali security guards, who killed him in a shootout. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the attack was due to the war in gaza. benjamin netanyahu: it's a hard

day. a despicable terrorist murdered three of our citizens in cold blood at the allenby bridge. on behalf of the government, i send my condolences to the families of the murdered. john: a in gaza, an israeli airstrike killed five people, including two children and a senior official in the civil emergency service, which handles gaza's first responder operations. the mother of the 14-year-old accused of killing four last week at that georgia high school has told family members she called the school the morning of the shooting to warn of an "extreme emergency". the teen's aunt says her sister related in text messages that she told a school counselor her son was having homicidal and suicidal thoughts. the washington post reports a call log from the family's phone plan shows a call to the school about a half an hour bore the shooting began. ukraine and russia are trading blame for attacks that injured civilians in two border regions. in russia, air attacks from ukraine injured two children in belgorod. and in the northeastern ukrainian city of sumy, two people were killed and four

others injured, including two children. ukrainian officials say russia is stepping up its attacks and targeting more populated areas. cleanup efforts are underway in vietnam, where typhoon yagi has left a trail of death and destruction. the massive storm is blamed for at least 14 deaths and nearly 200 injuries there. officials say the typhoon was one of the most powerful to hit vietnam in the last decade. yagi, now downgraded to a tropical depression, has left 3 million people without power. venezuela's opposition presidential candidate has fled the country, days after the government ordered his arrest. edmundo gonzalez is now in exile in spain after being granted asylum. the 75-year-old ran against president nicolas maduro in an election that independent observers say gonzalez won. today his political partner, maria corina machado, said gonzalez felt his life was in danger. and paris bid au revoir to paralympic athletes today. before the closing ceremony,

team usa closed out the day with three more medals -- a silver in women's wheelchair basketball and a bronze each in men's para-canoe and women's marathon. the u.s. finished the games third in the overall medal count, behind china and great britain. still to come on "pbs news weekend." a new book looks at how gen-z's politics is diferent from previous generations and the environmental impact of avocado production in mexico. announcer: this is pbs news weekend, from weta studios in washington. weekends on pbs. john: there has been a flood of state laws restricting abortion since the surpeme court said access to the procedure was no longer a constitutional right. currently, abortion is totally banned in 14 states, and 27 states prohibit abortions past a certain point in the pregnancy.

as ali rogin reports, those laws are affecting how medical residents in obstetrics and gynecology are trained in performing abortions and in counseling patients on their reproductive choices. a recent survey published in the “journal of graduate medical education” showed residents said they feel like they're participating in the enactment of injustice. another resident said there's a big conflict of interest between the patient's well-being and what we feel is right for the patient, and then, trying to cover ourselves from a legal standpoint. dr. sarah osmundson is an ob-gyn and a board member of the society for maternal-fetal medicine. thank you so much for being here. in addition to practicing as an ob/gyn, you are also a professor teaching the next generation. what are you hearing from the students coming from your programs about the future they have and whether they are getting enough training? >> thank you so much for having me and talking about this topic. i think i'm hearing a lot of echoes of that statement that

the incoming generation of clinicians, medical students and residents, are very concerned about the type of training they can receive, both ob/gyn and reproductive health in general, and they are very concerned about practicing in states that restrict reproductive health. reporter: so it's not really just about whether they have access to training during a residency but the ability to continue to practice once they are done with their training? >> absolutely. i think it's also important to understand there are technical predures that our residents learn during training and these are procedures we use for all types of health care. they are used for miscarriages, abortion care, the full spectrum

of reproductive health care. but the bigger picture is being able to have open and frank discussions with patients and being able to really offer them all the care within our states and within our institutions. ali: you are in a state with a total abortion ban. what are the conversations like with those students that are worried about the type of training they are going to receive? >> i've had several discussions with medical students who are kind of at a point where they can determine where they are going to practice, and many, i would say most of those medical students have chosen not to apply to residency programs in restrictive states because of the concern that there are overall limitations on the type of reproductive health care training they receive. ali: what will that mean for the future of ob/gyn. general for these states? >> i'm very concerned.

i think we still attract wonderful and talented residents, but you have to consider that if your pool of students who are willing to go to restrictive states is smaller , we are going to get all of our programs in these states with less talented students, less interested in providing the full spectrum of care, so i'm concerned this will affect the quality of the residents we are able to track -- attract. many residents practice where they train and the institutions where they train. the trickle-down effect is less and less ob/gyn's in these restrictive states. ali: what are you seeing from hospitals? are they trying to pursue workarounds to make sure students have the training that they need? >> i thi a lot of training

programs are trying to find those workarounds and there are options, specific concentrated time periods where they learn skills. if i reflect on my residency training, reproductive health care including abortion was a part of every element of training i had and it was not just something i did in the span a month rotation. it was part of every single rotation and i'm concerned even if we are able to provide the technical expertise, we lose out onertainly the full volume of care but also on the counseling and decision-making that comes around being able to offer that care within our institutions. ali: how do you feel about students like the one we read about in the intro who are feeling like they have to choose between what is right for their

patients and shielding themselves from legal liability? > i completely understand this. this is exactly what physicians like myself are feeling. they are reflecting what we experience every day, there is denitely a tension between what we know is the right medical decision for patients and what type of decisions could impact our freedom and professionn general. ali: dr. sarah osmundson, ob/gyn and board member on the society for maternal-fetal medicine, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. john: younger voters have already made their presence felt. in the last three elections, turnout has hit record highs among those born after 1987, the generation known as gen z.

their votes were critical in electing joe biden and maintaining the democrats' senate majority. this year, both the harris and trump campaigns are heavily coourting them. a new book looks at how gen z is different from other generations and the effect they're likely to have on american politics for years to come. it's called “the politics of gen z: how the youngest voters will shape our democracy.” the author is political scientist melissa deckman, who is ceo of the public religion research institute. you right, not only are there going to be changes in the future, but they are already making changes, for instance long-term trends have flipped in terms of political participation. >> yes. in my book i chronicle how gen z women are now participating in politics at higher levels than their male counterparts. . this is really unique in american history. i demonstrate how in earlier generations, women were not as likely to participate as men today you see a surge of activism. i think it is carrying over into

2024 and the election cycle. john: you talk about how they are more critical and less partisan than older counterparts. >> that's true on both sides. when we ask young americans about partisan identity, they are more likely to say they are independent or neither party or no party at all. i think it is a reflection of the fact that gen z is very distrustful of institutions more generally in society, but they're also far more likely to care about issues. we find among gen z, they care passionately about climate change, gender equality, and preventing gun violence. those galvanize them to march in the streets and formed their own organizations, and really lobby elected officials on those issues, too. john: talk about political participation. is it different from from older generations? >> yes it is. i think one of the things that helps us to understand gen z's politics is really the influence of social media. we find at pri for example, gen

z is outperforming older counterparts with respect to engagement and part of that is due to social media. which allows them to learn about politics, but also to actually facilitate political engagement in all ways, in all kinds of ways. john: what are the forces that have led them to these issues? >> well, i think with generation z women in particular. they came of age during the trump presidency. many gen z women activists i spoke with were really alarmed that someone like donald trump, who says misogynistic things , could defeat hillary clinton in 2016. couple that with the metoo movement, and it's raised a lot of feminist consciousness among young women, and those values ha propelled them to be more involved in politics today. i think also we see that gen z really cares again about climate change, about gun violence prevention. and i think for those in generation z, both many young men and young women as well, is that they view these as existential threats. they've had to live through these experiences. they know that climate change will affect their generation more than older generations. and so it's galvanized many of them to become involved. john: it used to be in politics

that people said that younger voters were unreliable voters compared to older voters. the fact that their voter participation is rising. what do you account for that? >> well, it is notable that in the last three election cycles, we've seen a surge of turnout among generation z. now, to be fair, generation z is still votes at lower levels than older americans because we know in political science we study this. but i think what has drawn them to the polls are those issues. not just climbing -- climate change that i talked about before, gun violence prevention that really produced this surge in 2018 and midterm elections. but in 2020, for example, during the presidential election, you had black lives matter. and it really, again, galvanized and encouraging people to go and vote. and in 2022, it was the dobbs decision where you saw more young women voting than young men in that election cycle. john: you point out that this generation is the most diverse generation in history. how is that affecting them in part politically? >> absolutely. demographically, gen z is very different. they're more diverse from a racial, ethnic perspective. they're also more likely to identify as lgbt. and both of those ways, i think

gen z cares passionately about having an inclusive democracy. so they look at for example with gun violence prevention as an issue. they often look at how gun violence disproportionately impacts members of the black community or, members of the latino community. and there's an awareness that a lot of these, problems in society disproportionately impacts those communities of color. again, that reinforces for them a desire to want to participate at higher levels compared to earlier generations of americans. john: all these changes, all these characteristics of gen z you've talked about, how is that likely to affect november and even many novembers beyond when this generation is in charge? >> well, you know, no generation is politically monolithic. but i think with this election, especially with the change from biden being the presidential nominee of the democrats to harris, there's a renewed enthusiasm happening among generation z. and so all of a sudden, you see, i think polling showing that generation z is going to be probably voting far more democratic, compared to, you know, maybe earlier in the year when biden again was the presumptive nominee.

but there also is some data suggesting young men might be trending a little more republican in their vote choice. and so i think that's something that we have to to kind of bear in mind. but i think, generally speaking, with all of that in mind, we should expect generation z, i think, to move our politics in a more center left left direction moving forward, because those are the issues that they really care about. those issues and clearly, climate and reproductive rights and lgbtq rights and racial equality, all of those things are really critical to understanding gen z's political priorities. john: melissa deckman, thank you very much. >> thank you. john: demand in the united states for one popular food is driving deforestation in mexico. stephanie sy speaks with a researcher about what can be done to stop it. stephanie: green gold. midshipman's butter. the alligator pear. or as most of us know it, the avocado.

it's become a staple in a lot of our diets. and in recent years, sales have skyrocketed. the u.s. alone imports around 80% of mexico's crop. that's $3 billion of avocados. but the growing demand for avocados on toast and guac is having a steep environmental and human cost. daniel wilkinson is senior policy adviser at climate rights international. daniel, thanks so much for joining us. you have this report out about the avocado industry in mexico. it's called unholy guacamole. how much first of all, it has , demand for avocados grown in recent years in this country and around the world? >> it's been skyrocketing. the consumption of avocados in the u.s.as tripled since and 2020 we also see, similar sort of growth in europe and other markets around the world. stephanie: as a result of that, i understand that over 25,000 acres of land in mexico has been

illegally deforested for avocado production. explain what is happening and why enforcement measures aren't place. >> what's happening is that, there are enormous profits to be made selling avocados to the u.s. market. and so people are clearing forests, illegally, to install avocado orchards. there are some estimates as much as 70,000 acres just in the last decade. and there's many more tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of acres of forest land currently snding but that are at risk of clearing. the deforestation is almost entirely illegal, and much of the water use as well is unauthorized. it's basically water theft, which is also illegal. but the laws simply are not being enforced. the perpetrators, the people who are profiting off this, are not being held to account. and there's no shortage of mexican officials at the local level, at the federal level, who want to do the right thing, who want to enforce these laws. but if they try to enforce the laws, they themselves are

exsed to intimidation, sometimes acts of violence. and at the end of the day, they find that they just can't compete with the enormous economic incentive, the profits that are to be made selling avocados in the united states. stephanie: there's a confluence of environmental problems from this, not just deforestation. but the report also talks about how it exacerbates existing water scarcity in that area. >> so forests play a very important role in, replenishing the water underground in a watershed. you t down the trees and you deplete the water that's there underground, and then you install avocados, which is a plant that consumes as much as 4 or 5 times as much water as the as the natural vegetation. and the result of all this is a very serious water shortages, in the avocado region that's having a real impact on local communities, local farmers, and is simply not sustainable.

stephanie: that demand, because it comes from the u.s., begs the question, what can we as american consumers of avocados do? and what can u.s. lawmakers do, if anything, to address these issues? >> consumers right now can't really do much, unfortunately. you go if you buy avocados in in the united states, nine out of 10 times it's coming from mexico. and the companies that are making those avocados available, the importers, the distributors, the supermarkets simply have not been taking the steps necessary to make sure the avocados that they're buying are not coming from the orchards with the illegal deforestation, but are coming from orchards from, you know, law abiding farmers. so in that context, there's not much consumers can do. but it really does not have to be like this. if you go to any supermarket in the united states, you will see on those avocados stickers that say avocados from mexico. and if they have the cartons that the avocados came in, which they often do under the display, the carton will have an 11 digit number, which indicates the specific orchard that in mexico that the avocado came from.

now, what we did in our organization, climate rights international, was get access to all those codes for all 50,000 orchards that are certified to export to the united states and uploaded them just onto google earth. and using that, we were able to see which ones were on recently deforested land. it's something that i wouldn't expect your average consumer to do, but there's no reason that major supermarket chains can't do what what our organization did. but if we really want to eliminate this incentive, we which need is regulatory action to basically bar the sale of of avocados from the orchards on recently deforested land. and this is an idea that's been put out there by, by mexican officials. there's been some interested in this in washington. this is something that could be done. and we're hoping that it will be done. stephanie: that is daniel wilkinson at climate rights international. thanks so much. >> thank you, stephanie.

john: now online. kamala harris and donald trump both tout plans to end taxes on tips, but experts say the issue is much more complicated. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/ newshour. and that is pbs news weekend for this sunday. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. have a good week. announcer: major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

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