Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at background briefing.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the Supreme Court's oral arguments over whether an Idaho abortion ban will

gut the Reagan era law, EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which prevents hospitals

from denying patients care who show up at hospital emergency rooms.

Joining us is Dr. Rob Davidson, a rural West Michigan emergency medicine physician

and the Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Healthcare,

a national health care advocacy organization made up of thousands of doctors across the country

fighting for access to care for

their patients and holding politicians accountable. We will discuss his op-ed at the Huffington Post.

I'm an emergency physician. Here's how dangerous the Supreme Court abortion ruling could be.

Then with President Biden signing the $61 billion aid package to Ukraine into law,

we'll assess how much it will stave off defeat rather than achieve victory for Ukraine

and whether there are any openings for a diplomatic settlement and speak with George Beebe,

the Director of Grand Strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

He served in government for nearly 25 years, including as Director of Russia Analysis at the CIA

and as a White House advisor on Russia Matters for Vice President Dick Cheney.

His latest book is The Russia Trap, How Our Shadow War with Russia

could spiral into nuclear catastrophe. Then finally, we'll look into the extent to which

minority rule is a structural affliction undermining U.S. democracy and how it is getting worse,

as Trump's Republican Party makes it clear that they would rather cheat than compete

in elections.

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