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Family planning services for many Mississippians remain in jeopardy

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.


More than two months have passed since Converge, Mississippi’s sole Title X (“ten”) family planning grantee, had its federal funding withheld — and already, communities across the state are feeling the strain.

More than 90 clinics in Mississippi receive funding from the Title X family planning program to provide care to people in need. However, on April 1, Converge, a Mississippi non-profit, was notified by the US Department of Health and Human Services that the grantee’s Title X funding was being withheld while the agency reviews Converge’s compliance with President Trump’s recent executive orders.

As a patient advocate and someone who has personally relied on Title X-funded services for care, I’ve seen firsthand the difference these clinics make. For many, they are the first—and sometimes only—place to turn to for timely, affordable reproductive health care like birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, infertility counseling and more. Today, that care hangs in the balance. 

I still remember walking into a Title X clinic at a pivotal moment in my life — uncertain and in need. There, I received not only essential care but also compassionate counseling from providers who treated me with dignity. With Title X-funded providers already forced to stretch scarce dollars, my experience reinforced their critical role in filling a growing need for care across communities.

For so many in Mississippi, these clinics are more than a health care provider. They represent a place of safety and trust.

Jasymin Shepherd Credit: Courtesy

With Title X funding on hold across the entire state since April 1, providers are working tirelessly to stay open. But the reality is, without critical support made possible by Title X, clinics are being forced to charge for services that were once free or at reduced cost. And for patients, that often means delaying care—or going without it altogether.

These decisions have real consequences. Mississippi already faces the highest maternal mortality rate in the country, with Black women disproportionately affected. Access to preventive, affordable care can help address these disparities — but only if that care remains available.

The Title X program plays a vital role in Mississippi’s health care safety net. Clinics funded by Title X serve thousands of Mississippians every year — many of whom live in rural areas, are uninsured or face other barriers to care. When funding is disrupted or withheld, the impact is felt immediately. It becomes harder for providers to keep their doors open. Staff members face layoffs. And patients lose access to the care they’ve come to rely on. 

At Converge, so much progress has been made over the years to create reliable access points to care. The organization has built a statewide provider network grounded in excellent, expanded care into underserved areas through telehealth and clinicians trained in providing patient-centered care. But that progress has now come to an abrupt halt. 

I recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to share my story with members of the Mississippi congressional delegation and highlight the extraordinary role that the Title X program plays in people’s lives. Because behind every clinic, every program and every policy are real people — people whose lives and futures depend on continued access to care.

That’s why I’m urging Congress and the Trump administration to act quickly to restore Title X funding. Now more than ever, this program is essential to keeping our communities healthy and strong. 

Mississippians deserve reliable access to the care they need to thrive and stay healthy. I hope leaders at every level will listen and respond with the urgency this moment calls for. Lives — and livelihoods — are on the line. 


Jasymin Shepherd is a patient advocate with Converge and a kinesiology adjunct instructor at Hinds Community College in Raymond. She also in the past sought care in a Title X-funded setting.

Mississippi Stories: The Capitol

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Marshall Ramsey checks in with Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann, House Speaker Jason White and MDAH Historian Brother Rogers to get an in-depth look at Mississippi’s Capitol.

For more videos, subscribe to Mississippi Today’s YouTube channel.


8 months ago, J.J. Spaun dropped out at CCJ; but Sunday, he persevered

Eight months ago, the first week of October 2024, J.J. Spaun walked the lush fairways of Country Club of Jackson in the Sanderson Farms Championship, trying to unlock the incomprehensible secret of winning golf. His stay in the Capital City was brief. He shot a first-round 75 and then withdrew from the tournament, presumably due to an injury.

“Presumably” is used here because Spaun’s withdrawal was not newsworthy enough to warrant even the briefest of investigations as to why he chose to drop out. After all, he ranked 98th on the tour’s earnings list at the time. 

Rick Cleveland

Truth is, Spaun has never really distinguished himself in Mississippi’s only PGA TOUR tournament. In five previous appearances here, he never finished higher than a tie for 36th place. That was in 2019. As recently as 2021, Spaun played so poorly he lost his PGA TOUR status. Until Sunday, Spaun was the epitome of the term “journeyman” pro. 

No more. Never again. In a memorable display of perseverance and sheer grit, Spaun, all stockily built, 5 feet, 8 inches of him, won the U.S. Open. This was the ultimate test of golf, amid brutal conditions on surely one the most difficult golf courses ever designed: Oakmont Country Club, just outside Pittsburgh.

One by one, golf’s biggest names faltered: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McElroy, John Rahm, Xander Schauffler, Brooks Koepka, Colin Morikawa. Oakmont’s thick rough, deep bunkers, slick, undulating  greens and severe weather conditions took no prisoners. The golf course was like a 7,500-yard torture chamber. I mean, who ever heard of a 301-yard par-3, a 530-yard par-4, a 667-yard par-5? The greens were more than undulating. They appeared to have hippos and elephants buried in shallow graves. The rough was such that the golfers sometimes prayed their golf balls would find one of the deep sand bunkers instead of the brutally thick primary rough.

In an era when it often takes 25-under par or better to win a PGA TOUR tournament, only one player bettered par for 72 holes: 34-year-old John Michael Spaun, who goes by J.J. Through some of the worst breaks imaginable, Spaun’s expression never changed. He didn’t smile. He didn’t frown. He just stared intently. Once, when a perfectly struck approach shot hit the flagstick and bounced wildly back down the fairway, nearly 50 yards away, he stared in disbelief as an almost sure birdie turned into a bogey. One hole later, another Spaun shot hit a rake and nestled into the thick rough, resulting in another bogey. For a while there on the front nine, it was Murphy’s Law applied to golf. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. He bogeyed five of the first six holes. After leading or staying close to the lead for much of the tournament, Spaun turned into a chaser, which he has been for nearly the entirety of his career.

This time, he caught – and passed – everybody.

This was something akin to Mr. Ed beating Secretariat, Citation and Man O’ War. This was the old Kansas City A’s winning the World Series, the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl. It happened. Once.

Sunday, you got the feeling it may happen again, perhaps many times, for J.J. Spaun. Maybe, he didn’t find the secret to winning golf eight months ago in Jackson, but he has found it somewhere along the way.

You may have heard his press conference afterward. Said Spaun, “It felt like, as bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”

Spaun refused to go away. It was like the story of his career. He kept his head up, retained his steely focus, kept plugging away. He birdied the last two holes, with the rain pouring and all the pressure one can face in golf on his shoulders.

Of all the most intriguing facts and statistics of the week at Oakmont, this one stands alone: In the long and storied history of the U.S. Open, dating back to 1895, there have been five men, including four legends, who have birdied the last two holes to win the championship. They are Ben Hogan (1953, Oakmont), Jack Nicklaus (1980, Baltusrol), Tom Watson (1982, Pebble Beach), Jon Rahm (2021, Torrey Pines) – and now, J.J. Spaun. What Spaun achieved against all odds at Oakmont was legendary, indeed.

UMMC’s records system asks if patients are citizens, but hospital won’t say why

The electronic system that manages patient information for the University of Mississippi Medical Center now includes a field for “citizenship,” but the medical center won’t say why it added the category. 

The field was not added by Epic, the electronic health record system used by UMMC, a spokesperson for the software company told Mississippi Today. 

“Each organization configures Epic’s software to meet their specific needs,” the spokesperson said. 

The field is optional and UMMC staff are not required to input the information or ask patients about their citizenship status, a clinical staff member told Mississippi Today. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity due to job concerns. 

A UMMC spokesperson declined to answer Mississippi Today’s questions about the change. 

Mississippi does not require hospitals to collect citizenship information from patients. Baptist Medical Center and St. Dominic Hospital, two other large hospitals in Jackson, both use Epic but do not have a field for citizenship in the system, nor do they ask patients for that information, spokespersons for both hospitals told Missisisppi Today. 

Patients are not legally required to disclose their immigration status if they are asked by a health care provider, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Hospitals must provide emergency medical services to patients regardless of their citizenship status under federal law. 

Texas hospitals began collecting patient citizenship information last November after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order mandating that facilities collect the information. 

The order seeks to quantify the financial burden Texas bears as a result of illegal immigration. Hospitals must report the cost of medical care provided to undocumented individuals quarterly, but individual identifying information is not shared with the governor. Texas hospitals were directed to inform patients that responses to questions about citizenship would not affect their care. 

Kate Royals contributed reporting to this story.

Members appointed to opioid settlement advisory council

Most members of a committee to advise the Mississippi Legislature how the state should spend the bulk of its national opioid settlement share have been finalized days after the appointments were due.

Among the voting council members is James Moore, an addiction recovery advocate in Hattiesburg. He said his local lawmaker, Republican House Medicaid Chair Missy McGee, called him Wednesday and asked him, on behalf of Speaker of the House Jason White, to serve as a voting member of the council. 

Earlier that day, Mississippi Today published a story about how Moore and other parents who’ve lost their children to addiction were upset that local city and county governments were spending opioid settlement money on items not directly related to recovery and without their input. 

Moore said he is looking forward to hearing from others with expertise addressing addiction as a public health problem — like those who’ve struggled with and treated substance use disorder.

“I’ll be reaching out to those folks to try to give me direction, so that I can pass that on to the decision makers,” he said. 

The people tasked with appointing the advisors have submitted 13 of the 15 members who will vote on state opioid settlement grant proposals, and 21 out of 22 nonvoting seats, according to the Mississippi Attorney General’s office. 

State lawmakers passed Senate Bill 2767 in the spring, and Gov. Tate Reeves signed it into law April 10. The law calls for creation of an advisory council that would develop a grant application process to spend an estimated $259 million of national opioid settlement money the state has been receiving. The committee is asked to make recommendations of which grants to approve, and legislators can accept or reject those. 

The law instructed a variety of powerful Mississippians to appoint the council members by last Monday, 60 days after the bill was signed into law. Reeves, who did not respond to questions about the advisory committee, is responsible for assigning the last two unassigned voting members. State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney is supposed to nominate the last nonvoting council seat — a representative of the state’s private addiction treatment facilities.

Mississippi State Health Department spokesperson Greg Flynn said that Edney would send his nominee to the attorney general’s office last week, but the seat was unassigned as of Friday afternoon, according to the Attorney General’s office. 

Another member of the voting block, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones, said he would like to see projects that prioritize addiction prevention education for the general public and overdose response tools for law enforcement officers, like the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. 

“This is something our communities are plagued with,” he said. “By having law enforcement personnel at the table, we have firsthand knowledge of the effects opioids have in the community.” 

As members of the advisory committee, Moore and Jones’ recommendations will still need legislative approval. Moore knows this, and he said people tend to listen to his ideas when he shares his family’s experiences. 

“I’m not speaking about statistics and numbers,” he said. “I’m speaking [as] an individual. I’m speaking by an empty chair at our table.” 

The law says the council’s first meeting must be held by July 9. 

Slain senator’s daughter will join Medgar Evers centennial event

The daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy Sr. will join the “Daddy’s Daughters” panel on June 26 in Jackson. It’s the first event of a weeklong series aimed at honoring the slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, will join Ambassador Attallah Shabazz, Bettie Dahmer and Reena Evers-Everette “in a rare and deeply personal dialogue about growing up as daughters of men whose lives were taken in the fight for justice,” organizers said. “Together, they will honor the legacies of Malcolm X, Vernon Dahmer, Medgar Evers and Senator Robert F. Kennedy — fathers whose leadership and sacrifice shaped history and whose personal love shaped their daughters’ resolve.”

Attallah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X. Credit: AP. Reena Evers-Everette, daughter of daughter of Medgar Evers. Credit: Mississippi Today. Bettie Dahmer, daughter of Vernon Dahmer. Credit: Jerry Mitchell.

Kennedy called it “a distinct honor” to join these women “whose strength and grace have been forged through profound loss and enduring love, on this panel. Our fathers dedicated their lives to the cause of justice, but they also gave us something even more powerful: the courage to carry forward their hopes and dreams.”

The session, which will anchor the opening night of the “Medgar Evers at 100 Centennial Weekend,” will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Jackson Convention Complex, located at 105 E. Pascagoula St. in Jackson.

The three-day event is honoring the 100th birthday of the legendary civil rights leader, who was assassinated in Jackson in 1963. Shabazz’s father, Malcolm X, was assassinated in Harlem in 1965. A year later, Dahmer’s father, Vernon Dahmer Sr., died defending his family from a Ku Klux Klan firebombing near Hattiesburg. In 1968, Sen. Kennedy was assassinated moments after winning the Democratic presidential primary in California.

Evers-Everette, executive director of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute, called the conversation “a tribute to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Vernon Dahmer, and Medgar Evers — not just as giants in the fight for justice, but as devoted fathers who poured love into our lives. We come together not only to remember, but to continue their unfinished work.”

For additional information, contact Chris Fleming at chris@redhorsestrategies.com.

Mississippi Today to convene state leaders in Jackson for free public event

Mississippi Today, in partnership with JPMorganChase, will present All In on Mississippi, a half-day gathering featuring discussions about ideas to build a stronger economy and thriving communities in the state.

The event, which will be free and open to the public, will take place July 28 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art in downtown Jackson, and will feature a fireside chat with JPMorganChase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.

“I look forward to being in Jackson and discussing how we can continue to be a strong partner to lift up Mississippi,” Dimon said. “Business and the government have a responsibility to collaborate and find solutions that work. We’re seeing great things in the state and want to build on the momentum.”

All In on Mississippi will convene local leaders, policymakers, business stakeholders and journalists to dig deep on critical and innovative solutions around community impact, economic development and social change in Mississippi. Plenary and panel sessions will delve into how to reverse brain drain, build a billion-dollar business and revitalize local economies, while spotlighting the talent, resilience and creativity of the region.

“We are excited to serve as a convener in our capital city, and to bring an internationally recognized business leader like Jamie Dimon to Jackson,” said Mary Margaret White, Mississippi Today CEO and executive director. “All In on Mississippi is going to be a gathering unlike any other, where we explore the intersection of economic development, informed communities and the young people spearheading the next great opportunities for our state.”

The event will kick off with lunch and networking, followed by a fireside chat with Dimon and Warwick Sabin, president and CEO of Deep South Today, the nonprofit network of newsrooms that includes Mississippi Today. Additional plenaries and panel sessions will feature Mississippi business mogul Tommy Duff in conversation with Adam Ganucheau, the editor-in-chief of Mississippi Today; a discussion about the state’s first scientific survey on the impact of — and solutions to — brain drain; and a lively conversation about the future of downtown Jackson featuring John Horhn, a state senator who becomes Jackson mayor on July 1.

“Deep South Today is pleased to catalyze conversations among thought leaders to advance and activate ideas that can improve the quality of life for all Mississippians,” Sabin said. “We believe that is a unique role we can play as a trusted provider of news and information in the region, and we want to use our platforms to create more opportunities for civic engagement and dialogue in communities across the state.”

Immediately following the formal program, Mississippi Today will host a public reception at its new office in downtown Jackson to spark collaboration across sectors and celebrate the power of community-driven impact.

Advance registration is required to attend.

Event Details

Event agenda coming soon.

Stay in touch leading up to the event by following Mississippi Today on social media @mstodaynews and with the hashtag #AllInOnMississippi.

Stay of death row inmate’s June execution to wait on judge’s response

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate said he will decide Monday whether to delay Richard Jordan’s execution. The 79- year-old death row inmate’s defense argues that the set method of execution might constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Jordan is scheduled to be executed on June 25 by injection of a sedative followed by two lethal drugs.

The sedative administered doesn’t prevent the inmate from feeling pain, Jordan’s defense argues. Prisoners can feel suffocation and cardiac arrest.

“Mr. Jordan and all the other people on death row were sentenced to death to have their lives extinguished,” said Jim Craig, Jordan’s attorney at a hearing Saturday  for a preliminary injunction to halt the execution. “They were not sentenced to be tortured before they die.”

Jordan and fellow death row inmate Ricky Chase are lead plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the drugs used for lethal injection. 

Jordan, at 79 the state’s oldest and longest serving death row inmate, was first convicted in 1976 for kidnapping and killing Edwina Marter in Harrison County. He had four trials until a death sentence stuck in 1998. 

Mississippi Department of Corrections protocol requires execution staff to ensure that inmates are completely unconscious before proceeding with the lethal drugs. The “proposed consciousness check” is a mandated wait time of three minutes between administering the sedative and the lethal drugs.

But the latest two executions in Mississippi – David Neal Cox on Nov. 17, 2021, and Thomas Loden Jr.  on Dec. 14, 2022 – did not follow this protocol: execution staff only waited one to two minutes before injecting the other drugs. Citing a deposition from Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain, the Attorney General’s Office ensured Judge Wingate that protocol would be followed with Jordan.

Execution staff would also rub Jordan’s sternum and monitor his reaction to pressure applied. Wingate asked the Attorney General’s Office how many seconds the test would last, but they could not provide a set answer.

If the sedative fails, no protocol is in place. At that point, the decision to proceed with the execution lies in Cain’s hands.

Wingate floated an idea that Cain would no longer make this call if the sedative fails. In 2022, a state law gave the commissioner sole discretion to decide the method of execution of incarcerated people.

He set a deadline of Monday noon for an answer from Cain.

The U.S. Supreme Court distributed Jordan’s petition for a writ of certiorari at a May 29 conference and is expected to discuss it again at a June 18 conference – a week before the execution. 

Thousands in Mississippi protest Trump policies at ‘No Kings’ events

Thousands of people in Mississippi protested Saturday against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns and other policies as part of a series of “No Kings” events across the U.S.

The protests happened on Trump’s 79th birthday – the same day a military parade was planned in Washington to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary.

The protest outside the Mississippi Capitol was largely peaceful. Capitol Police officers quickly stopped two small confrontations. Hundreds of demonstrators carried signs with slogans including “Make racism wrong again” and “Felon 47 is not a king despite SCOTUS.”

Counter-protesters at the Capitol carried signs proclaiming they oppose abortion and support Jesus.

As some of the protests were happening in the state, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves posted a happy birthday wish to Trump, adding: “Make America Great Again!”

In Gulfport, Lea Campbell of the Mississippi Rising Coalition said the protests are a way “to say no to fascism in our streets and to demand dignity, safety, liberty and justice for all,” according to The Sun Herald. Campbell said people of color, the LGBTQ community, poor people, unhoused people and workers “are not our enemy.”

“I know that fascism and white nationalism are the enemy of our democracy,” Campbell said.

Protesters gather at the State Capitol in Jackson for the No Kings event June 14, 2025.

The Sun Herald also reported a few Trump supporters stood across the street from the rally. One of them, retired Seabee Robert Charles Hall Sr., held a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and said he was carrying a pistol. He said he brought the gun in case police needed help and would use it to defend anyone in the crowd if the protest turned violent.

In Oxford, slogans on signs included: “This is the government our founders warned us about,” “Democracy dies when we stay silent” and “Hate never made any nation great.”

UMMC expands to Madison County with hospital, pediatric clinic

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has acquired Canton-based Merit Health Madison and is preparing to move a pediatric clinic to Madison, continuing a trend of moving services to Jackson’s suburbs. 

The 67-bed hospital, now called UMMC Madison, will provide a wide range of community hospital services, including emergency services, medical-surgical care, intensive care, cardiology, neurology, general surgery and radiology services. It also will serve as a training site for medical students, and it plans to offer OB-GYN care in the future. 

“As Mississippi’s only academic medical center, we must continue to be focused on our three-part mission to educate the next generation of health care providers, conduct impactful research and deliver accessible high-quality health care,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC’s vice chancellor of health affairs, said in a statement. “Every decision we make is rooted in our mission.” 

The new facility will help address space constraints at the medical center’s main campus in Jackson by freeing up hospital beds, imaging services and operating areas, said Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for health affairs. 

UMMC physicians have performed surgeries and other procedures at the hospital in Madison since 2019. UMMC became the full owner of the hospital May 1 after purchasing it from Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems. 

The Batson Kids Clinic, which offers pediatric primary care, will move to the former Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine location in Madison. This space will allow the medical center to offer pediatric primary care and specialty services and resolve space issues that prevent the clinic from adding new providers, according to Institutions of Higher Learning board minutes.

A UMMC spokesperson did not respond to questions about the services that will be offered at the clinic or when it will begin accepting patients.

The Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine, a pediatric subspecialty clinic, closed last year as a result of a settlement in a seven-year legal battle between the clinic and UMMC in a federal trade secrets lawsuit. 

The changes come after the opening of UMMC’s Colony Park South clinic in Ridgeland in February. The clinic offers a range of specialty outpatient services, including surgical services. Another Ridgeland UMMC clinic, Colony Park North, will open in 2026.

The expansion of UMMC clinical services to Madison County has been criticized by state lawmakers and Jackson city leaders. The medical center does not need state approval to open new educational facilities. Critics say UMMC has used this exemption to locate facilities in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods outside Jackson while reducing services in the city. 

UMMC did not respond to a request for comment about its movement of services to Madison County. 

UMMC began removing clinical services this year from Jackson Medical Mall, which is in a majority-Black neighborhood with a high poverty rate. The medical center plans to reduce its square footage at the mall by about 75% in the next year. 

The movement of health care services from Jackson to the suburbs is a “very troubling trend” that will make it more difficult for Jackson residents to access care, Democratic state Sen. John Horhn, who will become Jackson’s mayor July 1, previously told Mississippi Today. 

Lawmakers sought to rein in UMMC’s expansion outside Jackson this year by passing a bill that would require the medical center to receive state approval before opening new educational medical facilities in areas other than the vicinity of its main campus and Jackson Medical Mall. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed the legislation, saying he opposed an unrelated provision in the bill.