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BAY ST. LOUIS — A U.S. Department of Transportation official said the Biden administration is confident passenger rail will return to the Mississippi coast during a ground-breaking ceremony for a train depot platform Monday.

Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg spoke after local leaders stuck shovels into a mound of dirt outside Bay St. Louis’s historic train depot, marking the start of construction for a new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant platform. But the Amtrak-funded platform construction is symbolic for now – the future of the passenger route that would use it is still in limbo. 

Amtrak is waiting for a federal board to mediate a long-time dispute over the Gulf Coast’s capacity to host both freight and passenger rail on shared tracks. Amtrak hasn’t run a Gulf Coast route since Hurricane Katrina. Trottenberg, who was visiting from Washington, D.C., echoed Amtrak’s assertions that there’s room for passenger rail to run between Mobile and New Orleans with four stops in Mississippi. 

“I think you can see by Amtrak’s commitment to get these platforms ready, they’re confident they will be running the train,” Knox Ross, with the Southern Rail Commission, said at Monday’s ceremony. 

The Bay St. Louis platform is the first to begin construction among the five stations on the Gulf Coast route that will get similar updates. Each will cost around a half-million dollars, totaling about $2 million, according to Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari. 

About $66 million dollars in funding has already been secured for the Amtrak-desired route, but Amtrak and freight companies CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern have been in a years-long back-and-forth with little progress. 

Amtrak filed a complaint with the Surface Transportation Board last year. The federal body of transportation experts is appointed by the president to help settle railway disputes. Earlier this year, the board sat through days worth of testimonies. Now Amtrak and the freight companies are in board-mandated mediation. 

“We hoped that we would have the train running by January of this year,” Magliari said. “Now, we’re hoping for by January of next year.” 

In a recent filing Amrak submitted to the federal board it wrote: “Amtrak’s additional analyses confirm that there will be no unreasonable impairment to freight transportation from the Gulf Coast service.”

Amtrak wrote the freight company’s “arguments to the contrary are without merit” and impacts to freight routes and supply chain issues “greatly exaggerated.”

In June, CSX told Mississippi Today it looked forward to working with a mediator toward a “reasonable and amicable solution.” 

The company has said more studies on train traffic are required to ensure the corridor can accommodate passenger trains without impeding freight business. That’s something Alabama officials have also cautioned, worried about any potential impact on the Port of Mobile’s businesses.

What comes next is a waiting game, but Amtrak leaders say they’ll be ready. 

The new platform construction is the first phase of a longer plan, according to Amtrak. A second phase will better update the stations once the planned route has been up and running for two to three years.

Ultimately, Amtrak, the Southern Rail Commission and the Biden administration hope to see the route expand to include Baton Rouge. 

“But first, we need Mobile,” Magliari said.

In November, the U.S. Congress approved $22 billion for Amtrak as part of a $1-trillion-dollar infrastructure bill. The passenger rail provider has said it wants to expand across the country, adding up to 39 corridor routes and up to 166 cities by 2035.

Railroad experts have been watching the Gulf Coast case with the Surface Transportation Board closely because it could set a precedent for Amtrak’s ability to expand its routes nationwide. 

The proposed route would run two trains daily in the morning and evening between Mobile and New Orleans. It would stop in Bay St. Louis, Pascagoula, Gulfport and Biloxi. 

“You’ve heard an exciting vision for once this project is done to travel to all these wonderful cities along the Gulf Coast,” Trottenberg said Monday. “There is some work to do, (we’re) still working through the process, but I can say from the Biden administration’s point of view: We have great confidence we are going to get passenger rail again in this corridor.” 

The post Amtrak breaks ground for new Gulf Coast platform, though route still uncertain appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi’s last abortion clinic closed on July 6, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the constitutional right to abortion. Abortion is now illegal in the state except in rare cases, and Mississippi doctors believe even people who are pregnant as a result of rape will struggle to access the procedure because physicians will fear potential legal consequences. 

The country’s abortion rate has declined steadily since the early 1990s, but a 2017 study in the American Journal of Public Health found that 24% of American women will have an abortion by the time they are 45.

Mississippi Today spoke with four Mississippians about their abortions and their reactions to the end of legal abortion in Mississippi and other states around the country. 

Rebecca Meador, 42

Meador got an abortion at the Pink House in 2000. She had recently given up a son for adoption.

I feel a real sense of urgency to tell as many people as possible: This is what happened. And it’s not because I just chose to end a pregnancy. It’s because I was in an impossible situation where my life was in danger. It’s just a complex set of issues that I think a lot of people don’t bother to really consider. 

I was 18 when I found out I was pregnant and 19 when I gave birth. I knew there was no option for me to be able to raise this baby. My first decision was, I’m gonna have to have an abortion. And I was completely devastated. It was like I was living in a fog of despair. The last thing I wanted to do was have an abortion. Then (my manager at work) was like, “you don’t have to have an abortion. You can place the baby for adoption.” That was the first time that clicked with me.

I was so relieved. There was another option. I didn’t have to end this pregnancy in this way. We (the adoptive parents and I) met there at the adoption agency … We just really clicked. So that was a positive experience for me. 

The postpartum depression was very severe. That took several months for me to recover from. I got prescription psych meds for it. Then I was just dealing with the grief of placing Jake (my son). 

I don’t know what they think, that it’s just so easy to grow a person inside your body and give birth to it and give it away? You just go home and have a milkshake and go back to work? Maybe for some women, and probably for some women, it’s not traumatic. Maybe it’s something they’re able to recover from and find a place of mental stability and they move on. But it’s not the case for me. Certainly I don’t think that the agoraphobia and extremes of postpartum depression that I experienced, that’s probably not normal. But it’s probably not extraordinary either. 

There are a lot of reasons why people cannot just place a baby for adoption. It’s not like returning a book to the library. It’s a really big deal.

Finding myself in the place of being pregnant again (in 2000)… looking back on it now, I’m 42, and I have so much sympathy for myself (then) and so much love for myself. I really just was pretty psychologically broken, as it relates to how to have a healthy regard for valuing my own sexuality and, like, saying no and not being in that kind of a relationship. I just didn’t have those skills back then. I just was not in that place. I didn’t have health insurance. I didn’t have prescription birth control all the time.

I was living in Starkville. I went to the library and got a Jackson phone book. I looked in the Yellow Pages under abortion. 

There was a girl that was in (the clinic) with me that I went to high school with. That was notable to me. We weren’t really close. We were acquaintances … In a way it was nice to see a face that I knew but also in a way it was a little awkward. Like oh, we’re both in here. We’re both doing this. But you know, we really just each kept to ourselves. We smiled and said hello to each other. 

I think that’s another thing that people who are (anti-abortion) don’t really understand or think about. Nobody that gets an abortion is like skipping and jumping – “tralalalala, I’m getting an abortion today.” That’s not happening. Nobody shows up to the abortion clinic having the best day of their life. This is, like, the worst thing ever. And it is shameful, especially in Mississippi and it’s embarrassing for a lot of people. And it’s so personal and so private and then so to see somebody that you went to high school with in a way is like – no! This is the last thing that I want to, like, share with my high school buddy.

But it was also a little bit comforting. This weird double-edged sword. Oh, there’s somebody I know in there. We’re all having the worst day of our lives. 

I sent (a written version of my story) to every member of the state Legislature. Every member of the House and every member of the Senate, and I also sent it to the governor’s office and the attorney general’s office. And I also sent it to the offices of the chancery court where the lawsuit was. I heard back from two people, just one-sentence emails that I got back. They were both like, “I agree. And a woman’s body is her choice.” 

I was at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson the Sunday after the Supreme Court decision came out, and David Strain, who is the lead pastor there, during the pastoral prayer before the sermon, he was rejoicing and praising God for the decision that there wouldn’t be any more baby murders. Basically called me a baby murderer. He didn’t call me by name of course. But I just got up and went out. It was too much for me to process. I was just trying to be at church, and was getting called a baby murderer. 

I don’t know how to not talk about it. If I don’t talk about this, these people who think they know how to legislate women and legislate health care – they don’t get it. We have real struggles going on in our lives. 

Sonnie Bane, 30 

Bane got an abortion at the Pink House in late 2016. 

I was in a very long-term, six-year, seven-year abusive relationship. It was just not something that I wanted. It’s not like I was trying to get pregnant. It just happens. It wasn’t the easiest decision for me to make. I am very pro-choice, always have been, but when it is you, it just feels a little bit different sometimes. I’m very proud of my decision.

Coming here, I’ve known a lot of the escorts and the clinic workers for a long time, like Ms. Derenda (Hancock, one of the founders of the volunteer clinic escort service) is like one of my biggest idols. I just trusted her enough to guide me through the process. She helped me get the information for any funding. I got help from one of the people that are local here (the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund). 

There were so many people out on the streets whenever I was coming up here for every single visit. This was like six years ago. They always said the Pink House is an island on its own. The protesters definitely made it feel like it. 

This place really just saved my life. I was not ready. I was not in a good place. It would not have been a healthy relationship to have kids. I do eventually want one. But I wouldn’t be the same person, and I love who I am today. I have a great job, I have a good relationship, everything is just aligning. And if I didn’t do that … I don’t think I would still be here. 

I also found out that I was Rh negative (a blood cell status that can affect pregnancy) here, and I didn’t know that previously. This place has done so much for me. I got birth control here for years.

I feel like my dog has more rights than me now. It’s my body. I don’t think anybody should tell me what I can and can’t do.

It’s not like there are just countless women that are out here getting pregnant and doing it for fucking fun. Excuse my language. I don’t know anybody that would want to do this for fun. It’s hard. 

I did the pill, and I was in pain for four hours. No, it’s not fun. For some women, it is their only option. I don’t know anybody’s situation. I can’t say that they are wrong or anything no matter how many times they get an abortion. Everybody’s different. 

Kavi, 30

Kavi ended a pregnancy in Iowa when she was 19. She now lives in Mississippi. 

I was 19. I was in my sophomore year of college. I was in a really bad place in that I was in a very abusive relationship, I was becoming estranged from my family, I was in active addiction and alcoholism. And so there were a million and one reasons why my period would have been late. To top it off I had some spotting in between when I was pregnant and it just seemed normal. There was nothing that really tipped me off that I was pregnant until I started feeling, like, morning sickness. So I decided to go in and get checked when I was having a particularly bad bout of spotting. So I went into Planned Parenthood. 

And they were able to do an exam and found out that I was pregnant, but the fetus was not viable, like there was no heartbeat, and the tissue was starting to decompose and that’s what my discharge and spotting was. 

And it was just a messy day. I went in thinking that they would give me a pap smear or something and send me on my way.

I was really lucky in that it was not a very busy Planned Parenthood or a very busy day for them. So I was able to talk to a doctor right away … I was given the medication for a medication abortion that day along with antibiotics, and I think anti-inflammatory pills. 

I did not feel any judgment from the clinic workers or anybody. I was very lucky. I was down at the Pink House over the weekend (the first weekend in July, right before it closed)). And seeing all those protesters, the antis, it made me feel so so bad, because I did not have to walk past any of that. I didn’t have to listen to people tell me how terrible of a person I was, for making that choice. 

If it was a viable pregnancy, it’s still the choice that I would have made, because there’s no way that I could have carried a healthy pregnancy as an addict. 

And so what it meant to me was a chance to get out of that abusive relationship, a chance to continue my education, to get clean and sober, to just see the world, to do so many things that … people don’t realize you give up when you start a family or raise a child.

I never really thought of myself as somebody who had gone through that, because I felt like I did not have to make that hard choice … Like I wasn’t somebody who had an abortion. I was somebody that an abortion happened to. 

But when I look at people now, especially in the state of Mississippi, who are losing access to that health care, it breaks my heart, because I know that there are people who start off disadvantaged in the first place, due to poor quality public education, due to underfunding, maybe not the most socioeconomically stable environment. 

One thing that really rubs me the wrong way is when people are saying, you shouldn’t use abortion as birth control. I was using two forms of contraception when I got pregnant. I was using a hormonal method and a barrier method. I know that statistically that is so unlikely but I mean– the pill can be up to (99%) effective, if used exactly properly. Because I had access to primary health care at that point, I had birth control.

I had the ability, the time, the resources and the will to be (at the Pink House for a few days after the ruling) … I needed those anti protesters, those anti-abortionists, to have to look me in the face. I needed them to see that it is affecting people, even if they don’t consider me a person or worthy of consideration.

They needed to see that there are people who will fight for this. That fight’s not done. I will continue. My husband and I are already talking about starting to save up gas money so we can volunteer to be drivers to Pink House West in New Mexico, or to the clinic in Illinois. 

The post ‘This is what happened’: Four Mississippians discuss their experiences with abortion appeared first on Mississippi Today.

With no context, the opening pages of “Overground Railroad” — where we see various scenes of people carrying luggage, driving off in a loaded car, boarding a bus and riding a train — look like normal summertime vacation. 

Young Ruth Ellen, the protagonist, is excited about her family’s train ride to New York City. But the reality is it’s a one-way trip. During the time of sharecropping, often regarded as slavery by another name, the Great Migration saw the exodus of over six million African-Americans from the South to the northern United States. 

Sharecropping wasn’t easy to escape, however. Enslaved Black Americans had the Underground Railroad. And a century later, free African-Americans would still find themselves planning, saying goodbyes and sneaking away under the shadow of night to board trains on the railroads above ground.

Lesa Cline-Ransome, born in Massachusetts, and James Ransome, born in North Carolina, both have parents and family who participated in the Great Migration. Cline-Ransome discovered her interest in writing through a journalism workshop in high school. She also reflected on always being an avid reader. 

“I had a mother who was a real reader,” Cline-Ransome said, “a brother who was a reader. And I just, I devoured books … I have a pretty vivid imagination, and so I’m not sure which came first, my imagination or the stories that helped to ignite it. But just imagining a world outside of my own, I think really helped me connect to the stories.”

James notes comic books, Mad Magazine and the Bible as some of his earliest artistic influences.

“I grew up in a small town,” he said, “and there was no art in the schools…” Relocating to live with his grandmother, he brought along an interest in drawing and comics. But he discovered illustrations in the Bible — “beautiful compositions” — that he was also inspired to copy and learn from. “Anything that had artwork, I was interested in.”

Personal accounts of the Great Migration and Frederick Douglass’ biography contribute to the mix of influences on “Overground Railroad”, which also gets its name from Isabel Wilkerson’s “The Warmth of Other Suns,” a 2010 historical study of the Migration. 

What resulted was a children’s historical fiction that fulfilled not only Cline-Ransome’s desire to uncover more of America’s hidden histories but also provide the stories for kids today that were not available to her.

Mississippi Today caught up with the Ransomes to discuss “Overground Railroad,” the writing process behind it and what it means to be able to tell stories about your people, for your people. The couple will be in Mississippi on Aug. 20 as featured panelists at the Mississippi Book Festival.

Editor’s note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Mississippi Today: I was curious if (the research process behind the book) was just taking stories you’ve heard all your life, or did you go back to your family and talk to them while writing the book? If so, can you talk about how the process was, you know, learning history directly from the source?

Lesa Cline-Ransome: Well, it was really a variety of sources for me. When I started the project,  I would say that honestly, it began with reading the book “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson. And as a writer who’s become increasingly interested in history, and certainly now in this age, in the truth of history and the ways in which there are moments where African-Americans have kind of been left out of different aspects of historical recounting, I wanted to be able to tell a story — seen through the eyes of a young girl at this particular, very important moment in America’s history of the Great Migration.

… I just began imagining what it would be like for a young person experiencing the Great Migration, both James and I — the children of parents who were part of that Great Migration. And so I would say that the research that I did was supplemented by firsthand accounts of sitting and talking with family members and having their direct experiences, which certainly enriched, I think, both the text and the art.

James Ransome: Sometimes we’ve had family conversations, and they just talk about the experience of coming to the North. You know, so many people came and these sort of new communities were created where they maybe met someone from another county, from the same state. Events were planned around the fact that they were from other places. There’s a Carolina Ball, for example.

LCR: Yeah, the clubs that were formed as a result.

JR: So, this was an event that my mother and uncles went to, and it was a big event. They all got really dressed up and got ready for the Carolina Ball. Which was a party for people who were from North Carolina. So this was a way to sort of meet friends and meet new people who were also from the state.

LCR: I think what’s beautiful about the Black experience in terms of the Great Migration is, you know, James mentioned he’s from North Carolina, his family’s from North Carolina. My father is also from North Carolina, but their experiences are very, very different in many ways. And there are also some similarities. So just seeing the range of experiences is also important to note and to reflect in the writing and in the art.

MT: Are there any other interesting stories that stood out in the research process?

JR: I have a stepmother, and she talked a lot to Lisa about, you know, how poor she was in the South and the type of living standards that she grew up under, which was very different from when she moved to New Jersey… I think something as simple as indoor plumbing and the fact that she didn’t have to work in a hot field all day. I mean, she ended up working in a factory, like many of them did, but the working conditions, living conditions were just so much better in the North.

It was not ideal… when I read about people who migrated, they seem to paint the North as being sort of this land of future gold. She had very modest ambitions, just better living conditions is what I hear from her when she describes the difference between the two places. And not that she wanted to live like a queen or expect these sort of fantasy conditions beyond what she had before. But the fact that it was decent living and she could go to stores and buy things and not, you know, not be subjected to segregation — those are the things that I think (were the most important things for her). 

LCR: I think what I love most though in all my conversations is the direct correlation between the ways in which, historically, we have been disadvantaged in terms of our educational opportunities. And certainly, that has been the case with my mother-in-law and the ways in which her education was timed to go along with the planting season.

So, she could go to school when she wasn’t required to work in the fields. And I feel that when she came here, she so values education… I think that she and many others carry with them this idea that education is not something you take for granted…

But I think often (Black people) are painted as people who don’t value education, and it’s just a historical and present-day inaccuracy.

MT: Why do you think that children need this digestible and engaging version of history and events like the Great Migration?

LCR: Well, I think that all children need an accurate history. And I think that when you’re telling one group that their history is more valued than another group, I think it’s damaging to all groups. If one is valued above another and the history that you’re seeing is through the lens of one particular group, it’s not an accurate version of history. 

JR: … We want them to start understanding that history and the power of that history and the power of their ancestors. Because often Black movements are tied to the civil rights movement, which was led by (Martin Luther) King and other people. Well, this is something that Black people did on their own.

There was no leader. There was no one pointing, no one telling them to go. It was a decision they made on their own to better their lives. So it’s often considered a quiet movement that six million people did without any direction.

MT: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a big influence because we literally follow Ruth’s story with parts of his story as she reads about it in her book. Then there’s also a point where Ruth’s mother asks her to read to her on the train. What would you say is the importance of literature and storytelling in Black history?

JR: I just thought when Lisa wrote Frederick Douglas into the story, that was absolutely genius … She’s pulling on this history that we have as people of trying to better our outer situations.

And, my god, as difficult as it was to take a train from the South, imagine if you are running and you have no map and you (have) no way to protect yourself and you’re being hunted and you are just running north. The Underground Railroad. I mean, that was just beyond my understanding — how that actually worked.

But, people did it, and they escaped for their freedom to have a better life for their family. So here we are connecting with that in this book “Overground Railroad.”

LCR: And I think that what’s really important about (literature and storytelling) is just the ability to tell our own stories. I think that, you know, there’s been a long period in publishing, in particular, where Blacks have not been able to tell their own stories or their stories weren’t valued in a particular way. And so now I just think the importance of telling our stories and our own voices through our own lens certainly provides a unique experience to young readers.

And I just think it’s important to have our stories documented and in print. And I think that these are stories that can be passed down and shared and provide us with a great opportunity to discuss our history, our present and our future.

MT: You’ve said you liked the idea of repurposing and recycling for art. Can you talk a little bit more about that and why did that [style] stand out so much for this story, to apply that style to this story?

JR: One thing is for sure when you’re poor, you learn how to be very careful with the things that you have. And you often reuse things that you have. So, you know, these are poor people who are migrating and that’s such a large part of our life — reusing of things. Something has a hole in it, like pants, you take another piece of material, you patch over them and you continue to wear those pants. 

And also I want kids to think about the things that they have. You can take something old and reuse it and make artwork with it. That’s really sort of ideal for me. So for a kid to say, you know, to take on an old magazine and cut that up and use those parts for a creation of artwork that they make, that’s really special.

MT: I really like that idea, and I feel like it kind of even relates to the juxtaposition of Ruth’s and Frederick’s stories in the book and the similarities and differences between their experiences… You wouldn’t typically call Ruth’s family privileged, but you would say that she had some different things that even Douglass didn’t. For example, he had the North Star [to guide him], but Ruth has a train called the Silver Meteor. Lesa, was that intentional?

LCR: We could say it was maybe subconscious … I was trying to find as many ways as I could to see the parallel between Frederick and Ruth Ellen and their journeys, both literally and figuratively.

MT: Did you have books like this to read when you were growing up?

LCR: Absolutely not. So a lot of what I’m writing is what I would like to have read as a child. I wish that I had had books that reflected me, like the little Lisa. But I didn’t really have many of those books. I was always seeking out books that reflected my kind of emotional experience, like “Diary of Anne Frank,” where I felt like I was an outsider in an all-white community growing up. But I didn’t have books where children really looked like me and didn’t reflect the experiences of myself or my family or my family’s history. And so these are, to me, just great opportunities to kind of speak to and fulfill the needs of little Lisa.

The post Q&A with ‘Overground Railroad’ authors on the importance of storytelling and history appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today political reporters Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender recap what was a more eventful Neshoba County Fair political speakings than what normally occurs in off-election years. A lot of the talk centered around the overturn of Roe v. Wade and questions from the media about the ongoing scandal that has engulfed the Mississippi Department of Human Services.

The post Podcast: Neshoba County Fair political speakings filled with fire and brimstone and questions about state welfare scandal appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Projection 101 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As Haley Barbour faced an onslaught of criticism for pardoning dozens of people convicted of felonies as his tenure as governor ended in 2012, he cited his Christian beliefs for his actions.

“Christianity teaches us forgiveness and second chances. I believe in second chances, and I try hard to be forgiving,” the former governor said soon after leaving office of the more than 200 acts of clemency he granted.

During his eight years as governor, Barbour, like most other Mississippi politicians, did nothing to make that forgiveness more inclusive by creating a system that would make it easier for the literally tens of thousands of people convicted of felonies to have their voting rights restored.

Most Mississippi politicians wear their Christianity on their sleeve. The primary tenet of the Christian faith is forgiveness and redemption. Yet, they do not see as part of that forgiveness and redemption the restoration of voting rights for people convicted of felonies.

Multiple studies have made the argument that restoring voting rights increases the odds that people who have been convicted of felonies will become productive members of society.

Dennis Hopkins, a 46-year-old Potts Camp resident who lost his right to vote as a teenager when he was convicted of grand larceny, but is now a productive member of the community in the north Mississippi hamlet, explained to lawmakers the importance of voting.

“Voting to me is everything,” Hopkins said in 2021 during a legislative hearing. “I tell my kids how important the vote is … it shames me to tell them I can’t vote.”

The old adage that the judicial system moves slowly has never been truer than when it comes to Mississippi’s one-in-the-nation system of preventing people convicted of certain felonies from regaining their voting rights.

On Sept. 25, 2021 (more than 10 months ago), the entire panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether Mississippi’s felony disenfranchisement is unconstitutional. Seventeen judges heard the argument at the federal courthouse in New Orleans. It is not an everyday occurrence for the entire panel to hear oral arguments, so the assumption was that the federal appeals court was placing a priority on the issue.

But since that September day, there have been crickets from the court.

At some point, the court finally will issue a ruling.

In Mississippi, people with felony convictions must petition the Legislature to get a bill passed by a two-thirds majority of both chambers to regain voting rights. Normally only a handful (less than five) of such bills are successful each session. There is also the option of the governor granting a pardon to restore voting rights. But no governor has granted pardons since Barbour in 2012.

For a subset of those who lose their rights, the courts can expunge their record. In some instances that expungement includes the restoration of voting rights and for others it does not. It just depends on the preference of the judge granting the expungement.

During the 2022 session, legislation was passed clarifying that the judicial expungement would always include the restoration of voting rights. That modest legislation would have been the biggest change to the state’s felony voting system since it was incorporated into the Mississippi Constitution in 1890. But it was vetoed by Gov. Tate Reeves.

The U.S. Supreme Court in past decisions has given the states broad leeway in stripping the right to vote for those convicted of felonies. But it is worth pointing out that Mississippi is in a distinct minority of states (less than 10) not automatically restoring voting rights at some point after a sentence is completed.

The aforementioned 5th Circuit is considering the argument that the Mississippi felony voting ban is unconstitutional because it was placed in the 1890 state Constitution as one of many provisions intended to prevent African Americans from voting. If it was done for racial reasons, then it should be unconstitutional, the proponents of the lawsuit argue. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch opposes the lawsuit.

In the 1890s, the Mississippi Supreme Court wrote the disfranchisement of people of specific felonies was placed in the Constitution “to obstruct the exercise of the franchise by the negro race” by targeting “the offenses to which its weaker members were prone.” The crimes selected by lawmakers to go into the provision were thought by the white political leaders at the time as more likely to be committed by African Americans. They also imposed poll taxes, literacy tests, segregated schools, a ban of mixed race marriages and other racist provisions into the Constitution.

They, of course, took all of those steps in the name of Christianity.

The post In Mississippi, Christian forgiveness does not equate to felony voting reforms appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As part of our member-only newsletter, The Exclusive, Mississippi Today caught up with Laurel-based artist Adam Trest. This interview was originally published on July 27 and shared with Mississippi Today members. Each month, we bring our members exclusive interviews and events, such as this conversation with Ben and Erin Napier, to thank them for their support of our newsroom. Become a member by donating any recurring amount today and be the first to hear about our upcoming exclusive interviews and events.

Trest is a part of the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Artist Roster, which selects artists from various medias and helps organizations fund presenting the artists through grants. His work is featured in the Caron Gallery and in a current exhibit at the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience in Meridian, Mississippi.

His unique style caught the attention of many when he was featured on HGTV’s “Home Town” with Ben and Erin Napier. Recently, Trest illustrated a children’s book written by Erin Napier titled “The Lantern House,” which made him a New York Times bestselling illustrator.

The post Mississippi Today with Artist Adam Trest appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey sat down with Laurel-based couple Ben and Erin Napier of HGTV’s “Home Town” on Zoom as part of a Mississippi Today member event on July 1. You can gain access to exclusive events, interviews with great Mississippians like artist Adam Trest, and more by joining our member community through a donation of any amount today.

Answering questions submitted by members prior to the event, the Napiers discussed everything from how they have maintained family time during filming to Ben’s enthusiasm for old cars.

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On Friday, July 22, community health reporter Isabelle Taft answered questions on Reddit about the future of abortion, reproductive rights and health care in Mississippi after SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade and Mississippi’s trigger law was put into effect.

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Q: What other medical procedures will be impacted by the change (examples being miscarriages or IVF), and how will they be affected?

A: It’s not completely clear.

Right now, IVF is going on as usual in Mississippi, but I spoke with a doctor earlier this month who is concerned about the future. Defining fertilization as the beginning of life, which the personhood amendment the state voted down in 2011 would have done, would create big legal challenges for IVF, which often involves the creation of excess embryos. But Sen. Joey Fillingane, one of the main architects of anti-abortion laws in the state and the author of the abortion trigger ban, told me that enshrining legal protections for IVF and surrogacy is one of his priorities in this area for the next legislative session.

When it comes to miscarriages, I think there will be more consequences. Doctors have told us they’re worried about situations where someone is miscarrying but maybe the fetus still has a heartbeat. Pre-Dobbs, they would perform a D&C to finish the process and stop hemorrhaging. Now, that may be seen as an unnecessary legal risk and you could see hospitals sending people home to wait. (There’s been a lot of reporting about this happening in Texas, for example, which effectively banned abortion in 2021.)

Nationally there’s also been a lot of reporting about people being denied miscarriage management drugs mifepristone and misoprostol by pharmacists because these are also used in medication abortions. I’ve spoken with pharmacists and doctors about this in Mississippi, and anecdotally no one reported a patient being denied a prescription after Dobbs. (Also important to note that we’re not aware of anyone who was prescribing abortion pills in Mississippi before Dobbs besides the Pink House, where more than half of all abortions were medication abortions.)

And a natural miscarriage is not distinguishable from a miscarriage induced by abortion pills. So one possibility is that people who are miscarrying will be more reluctant to go to the hospital if they have complications, because they could be concerned about intrusive questioning and even law enforcement involvement. (I think people’s experiences with this are going to vary drastically based on where they live, the hospital they go to, even who happens to be on shift at a given time.)

Q: What will happen in the case of ectopic pregnancy where the mother will die without an abortion? Asking for both the letter of the law and what you believe will actually happen in practice.

A: In cases like an ectopic pregnancy where it is very clear that the mother could die without an abortion and there is no chance of a live birth, the law clearly allows Mississippi doctors to do what they have done before the ruling in Dobbs: Terminate the pregnancy. I spoke with a doctor in the Delta this week who did exactly that, without any additional calls to attorneys or hospital administrators.

In practice, pregnancy can involve situations that are dangerous or potentially dangerous for the pregnant person but not as clear-cut as an ectopic pregnancy. Those are the situations that doctors I’ve spoken with are more concerned and confused about. Some pre-existing conditions like pulmonary hypertension make pregnancy itself very risky, but the threat to the person’s life isn’t imminent. Before Dobbs, physicians could have a conversation with their patient about the best course of action and the pregnancy could be terminated in Mississippi. Now, those conversations and choices come with the possibility of up to a decade in prison of a doctor winds up being criminally investigated.

Here’s a story from this week that goes into what doctors are thinking about this issue.

Q: Who determines if an abortion would save the life of the mother? Is it the state or would a doctor be able to determine that?

A: The state’s trigger law isn’t crystal clear on the point of who makes the decision that a person’s life is at risk, and how they’re supposed to make that decision. This is what it says: “No abortion shall be performed or induced in the State of Mississippi, except in the case where necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life or where the pregnancy was caused by rape.”

In practice, that determination is going to fall to doctors around the state, likely in some cases in consultation with hospital attorneys and ethics boards. In some cases, like ectopic pregnancies, the legal standard will be pretty clearly met. In others, it won’t be, and doctors may choose not to perform an abortion where previously they would had a conversation with the patient about what to do.

The lawsuit over Louisiana’s abortion ban is ongoing, but one physician filed an affidavit explaining how the ban affected their work when it was briefly in effect earlier in July. A patient’s water broke at 16 weeks, and the patient wanted the doctor to perform a dilation & evacuation (D&E) to quickly end the nonviable pregnancy. There was no chance that the pregnancy result in a live birth, but the hospital’s attorneys told the doctor she couldn’t perform an abortion. Instead, the patient delivered the fetus naturally, which took hours and also caused her to hemorrhage a liter of blood.

Unlike Mississippi’s ban, Louisiana law includes an exception for “medically futile” pregnancies, but the law also says the state health department is supposed to issue a list of what qualifies as “medically futile,” and it hasn’t done so yet. But that exception should give doctors there more discretion than in Mississippi, where terminating a nonviable pregnancy is legal only if not doing so threatens the pregnant person’s life.

Q: Can a pro-life activist sue a doctor or hospital for performing a life-saving abortion if they feel the mother wasn’t in mortal danger? And how would this threat affect the quality of healthcare across the state?

A: To your question about the possibility of lawsuits, I think it’s too early to say for sure what will happen in Mississippi because all of this is so new. Some OB/GYNs we’ve talked to expressed concern and confusion over the possibility of being sued by someone who believes an abortion wasn’t necessary to save the life of the mother. They don’t appear to be getting guidance on this from any agency or their employers.

In Arizona, a woman’s ex-husband established an estate for her terminated embryo and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the clinic that performed her abortion years ago.

Q: Can police legally force a pregnancy test on a woman they suspect is traveling to have an abortion? Can they detain that woman until she gives birth or dies?

Can state law enforcement legally use data from mobile devices to extrapolate if a woman might be seeking an abortion, then target that woman for investigation? Would a compiled list of these women be used legally as a function of abortion law enforcement?

A: I’m going to group your questions about police forcing pregnancy tests and using mobile data because they’re related to the broader uncertainty over how these laws will actually be enforced.

Mississippi law doesn’t have any provision saying a person may not travel out of state to seek an abortion, and the trigger ban specifies that police can’t prosecute a woman for her own abortion. So it would not be legal to detain someone on the suspicion that they were going to travel out of state for an abortion.

I think it’s pretty unlikely that law enforcement would use mobile data proactively to try to surveil for a potential abortion attempt in this way, especially because the trigger law says you can’t prosecute a woman for her own abortion. I do think that when police get a report of a possible illegal abortion (say if a woman comes to a local hospital with complications), we’re likely to see search warrants for mobile data as part of their investigation. This notably happened in the Latice Fisher case in Starkville a few years ago. She said she gave birth to a stillborn baby, and police found that she had searched for abortion pills and used that as part of the murder case against her, even though there was no evidence she had actually taken them. Charges were dropped after local and national advocates raised questions about the dubious test that had been used to claim her baby was born alive. Here’s a Washington Post story about the case and its national implications post-Roe.

Q: Hello Isabelle, do you expect the Mississippi Legislature to continue to restrict abortions in Mississippi (as in removing the exception for rape or life of the mother)? Additionally, has [Philip] Gunn clarified his thoughts on IVF and its continued legal status considering his belief that life begins at conception?

A: I don’t want to make any overconfident predictions but I do expect there will be discussion of further abortion restrictions next session. I think there is going to be appetite for strengthening laws against abortion pills, though I’m not sure what that will look like in practice because the state can’t police people’s mail and the pills are easy enough to order online from places where they are legal. That issue is clearly front of mind for anti-abortion folks in Mississippi, especially after billboards advertising abortion pills went up around Jackson. This is from an email that Pro-Life Mississippi sent out yesterday:

“Billboards are becoming the new battleground against the abortion industry. New billboards promoting abortion pills have appeared in Richland and Jackson… The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office is working on a coordinated response to these types of deceptive advertisements that could result in harming women with dangerous medication.”

(Note that medication abortion has been in wide use around the world for decades with a very low rate of complications, including when used at home without formal medical supervision.)

I don’t know if there will be a push to remove the exceptions but I haven’t heard anything to that effect. It’s worth noting that doctors told us that they don’t expect anyone in Mississippi will be willing to perform abortions in cases of rape, given the legal risks, so that exception may effectively already be moot.

To my knowledge, Gunn hasn’t clarified his stance on IVF. I would be surprised if there is any effort to do anything that would affect IVF: Sen. Fillingane, who authored the abortion ban, actually wants to pass legislation to make clear that IVF and surrogacy are protected in Mississippi. (He fathered twin sons via surrogacy last year so this issue is close to him.) And I think it’s important to note that people who use IVF are generally people with means and access to channels of political influence. I don’t see commitment to the idea of life beginning at fertilization leading lawmakers to pursue laws that would constrain IVF.

Q: Do you think there is any risk of people getting arrested for using drugs off-label for abortion? What precautions can they take? What are good resources for them?

Also, is it a legitimate worry that MS residents may not be able to travel out of state to get an abortion?

A: To your first set of questions, I don’t want to make too many predictions because I think it’s still unclear how law enforcement will seek to carry out these new laws. With 82 different counties, I think we’re going to see a lot of variability in how police and DAs operate and how aggressive they are in investigating and punishing abortions. The trigger ban says a person can’t be prosecuted for their own abortion. In pre-Roe Mississippi, women were not often prosecuted for their abortions but were frequently pressured to testify against doctors and others who had been involved in the abortion. The use of abortion pills is going to be really tough for state authorities to regulate because it’s so easy to obtain them from overseas providers like Aid Access– who would Mississippi authorities prosecute?

This story looks at abortions and prosecutions in MS before Roe:

And this one discusses access to abortion pills and why the state will struggle to control it:

I don’t know what we might see in the next legislative session. I do know the pro-life lawmakers I have spoken with have said they’re not interested in trying to restrict Mississippians’ travel out of state, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh – who joined the majority to overturn Roe – wrote that he would find such a law unconstitutional. But it’s definitely true that many Mississippians won’t be able to travel to obtain an abortion for logistical reasons. Advocates expect the closest clinic will ultimately be in Carbondale, Illinois, a six to seven-hour drive from Jackson. (Currently, clinics in Louisiana and Florida are providing abortions.)

Q: Concerning reproductive health: do you think the state government will now create/enact legislation to make it harder for people to obtain birth control (specifically Plan B or any other estrogen-type pill form of birth control obtained via prescription)?

A: From what I have heard from lawmakers and anti-abortion advocates, there are not plans to do this or push for it.

Q: As a woman who was considering children and is now leaning towards sterilization due to the unacceptable risk involved in Mississippi, do you foresee more Mississippi women making that choice instead of building families going forward? We already have a brain drain problem, so do you think we’ll see even more of us younger folks moving to states with safer healthcare access?

All I have are anecdotal experiences on this, but a lot of my female friends have been pursuing sterilization and long-term contraceptive methods much more actively since the ruling–one has already scheduled a hysterectomy out of state by a doctor willing to perform it (notoriously hard to get when you’re a young woman with no children).

So along those lines, do you think we will be seeing bans on women’s contraceptives? I doubt we’ll see bans on condoms, but plan B and birth control pills could end up on the chopping block given how uneducated people tend to be on how those actually work.

A: One OB/GYN we spoke with mentioned she’s experienced an uptick in requests for tubal ligations since the Dobbs ruling. She also has concerns about the fate of certain emergency contraception, including IUDs, and it’s only reasonable to think other Mississippians might share that concern. Gov. Tate Reeves and other state leaders have said publicly they will not be targeting contraception, but have not specified what they do and do not consider contraception – despite our repeated questioning.

I also spoke recently with Terri Herring, the head of Choose Life Mississippi and a powerful anti-abortion advocate in the state. She said she doesn’t plan to advocate for restrictions on any pregnancy prevention measures, and she includes IUDs in there.

Q: I’ve seen that Google can help police track internet searches for abortions and how to get one. What safety factors do Mississippians need to consider when trying to figure out how to access abortion?

A: I haven’t done any reporting on this topic so I’ll refer you to this general guide from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that defends civil liberties on the internet.

Q: Is Mississippi one of the states that are not allowing women with certain diagnoses, for example, rheumatoid arthritis to be able to obtain prescriptions such as methotrexate for their health? (I’ve read Methotrexate and a few other prescriptions have been denied in some states since the overturn because the medication can potentially be used for abortion.)

A: I have not talked to a lot of pharmacists, but the handful I’ve spoken to have said they haven’t heard of this happening in our state. I haven’t heard from any doctors about patients being denied their prescriptions either. If anyone has direct experience with this please send me an email (itaft@mississippitoday.org)!

Q: Also if you do cross state lines for abortion care what will happen if you come back into the state?

A: This is a great question. Abortion complications are rare so for most people, nothing will happen.

If you do have a complication and go to a hospital to get treatment, the hospital is legally required to report the complication to the Health Department. (We recently obtained the annual reports on these complications for 2015-2020, and most years 0 complications were reported. In two years, there were four complications each, all non-fatal.) The complication reporting form doesn’t ask for the patient’s name, SSN, DOB or anything like that, but it does ask for details like age, race, marital status and previous pregnancy outcomes.

After the ruling in Dobbs, Ochsner, which operates some hospitals in South Mississippi, reminded staff that they are required to report abortion complications to the health department.

I don’t know what kinds of decisions hospitals and medical staff will make as to when/whether to involve the police in a situation like that.

Biloxi police told Gautama Mehta of the Sun Herald that if they get a report of a possibly illegal abortion, which is a felony, their understanding is that they are required to investigate it.

The next Reddit AMA:

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Gov. Tate Reeves explained on Thursday that his office, not the independent attorney hired to take the case, used an “objective process” to select who would face charges in the state’s massive civil lawsuit that attempts to claw back millions in misspent welfare funds.

The stated process, with its many caveats, happened to exclude University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, which the head of the welfare department and its attorney had initially intended on suing.

Reeves, who has been accused of a political cover-up in recent days for firing the private attorney bringing the lawsuit, said the state limited its complaint to people and companies who received payments that a third-party forensic auditing firm labeled as “waste, fraud and abuse” in a narrow October 2021 report or who were the subject of criminal charges.

“We’ve got to have an objective process by which we determine who gets sued. Knowing that, we can add any party in the future,” Reeves said Thursday during a press gaggle at the Neshoba County Fair — his first public comments since he was accused of firing the attorney to protect USM Athletic Foundation and other politically connected players. “… The only exception in the suit that we currently have that was not listed in that ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ category that we have sued is Prevacus. And the reason for that is because at the time the lawsuit was filed, it was the subject of the criminal indictment from one of the co-conspirators.”

But like Prevacus, the pharmaceutical company backed by retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre, payments to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation were also the subject of a criminal indictment and plea. The governor’s office directed the welfare department to remove the USM athletic foundation, whose board includes several Reeves donors, from its initial civil complaint before it was filed.

Reeves’ statement also doesn’t jibe with the fact that forensic auditors found $12.4 million in “waste, fraud and abuse,” but the civil suit seeks to recoup $24 million it says the defendants diverted “from the statutory purposes of that program and squandered by and for their enrichment.”

Nevertheless, the state has, at least to this point, decided against using the civil lawsuit to explore one of the most egregious schemes in the scandal: the use of $5 million in welfare money to build a volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi.

In fact, the welfare department Reeves oversees removed the attorney who crafted the case, former U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott, for doing just that. Reeves initially approved of his welfare director, Bob Anderson, hiring Pigott on a year-long contract, which ends July 31.

Another paradox in Reeves’ explanation about how they chose which people and purchases to target in the suit is that retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre wasn’t included in the forensic audit report or criminal charges, but he was named as a defendant in the civil litigation. 

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves says ousted welfare scandal lawyer had ‘political agenda,’ wanted media spotlight

Asked Thursday afternoon to clarify its process for selecting defendants, the governor’s office sent a statement saying, “It was decided at the time, based on the sheer amount of evidence surrounding Prevacus that was presented in the criminal indictment, that a limited exception would be made (for those entities and individuals connected to Prevacus) to the general policy of sticking to “fraud, waste, and abuse” as identified by the forensic audit. There were many other entities that were questioned and/or included in the indictments that may be added in the future.”

The lawsuit doesn’t limit its probe into Favre to the Prevacus deal; it also includes $1.1 million in welfare money he received for public appearances officials say he never gave – an expenditure never described in the “waste, fraud and abuse” report Reeves referenced.

Favre had been seeking funding from the state of Mississippi to prop up Prevacus. Just weeks after Favre and Prevacus founder Jake Vanlandingham first offered Gov. Phil Bryant stock in the company to get him “on the team” in late 2018, they began receiving stolen welfare funds for their experimental drug projects that eventually totaled more than $2 million. Text messages uncovered by Mississippi Today showed Bryant agreed to accept a company package two days after leaving office, but arrests caused him to back out of the deal.

“We also took into account sensitivities regarding the ongoing criminal investigations that would be improper to opine upon further,” the governor’s statement continued.

Forensic auditors also noted in reports that they were limited in what they could review, preventing them from making determinations in its “waste, fraud and abuse” report about roughly $40 million in spending from nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, including payments to the athletic foundation and Favre.

“There are certain entities that are in question that the forensic auditor opined that they didn’t have enough information to determine if it was waste, fraud and abuse or not,” Reeves said Thursday. “And the reason they didn’t have enough information to determine that is because some entities, for example MCEC, because of the criminal case, were unwilling to cooperate with the forensic audit. So, there are a lot of entities that are not in the ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ that can be added in the future. This is the reason, by the way, that most of the time in situations such as this the civil case comes after the criminal case.”

The forensic auditors noted that they were limited in whose emails they could review and also unable to retrieve documents not just from Mississippi Community Education Center, but also from the State Auditor’s Office, which as the initial investigating agency possessed many of the pertinent documents. 

Some defendants in the civil suit have requested a stay in the case to allow the criminal proceedings to wrap up before continuing the civil proceedings.

“The New Defendants have taken responsibility for their roles, yet they continue to be thrust into the crossfire by powerful forces fighting over political futures and tens of millions of dollars. The State wants to avoid liability and embarrassment, the Feds want their money back, and the public wants answers,” New’s attorney Gerry Bufkin wrote in a motion to stay on behalf of the New nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center.

The hearing for this motion is set for August 17, and based on Reeves comments, it appears the state may be in support of this route.

Several other entities that received funds categorized as waste, fraud and abuse – such as Through the Fire Ministries, a Christian organization founded by a musician Deborah Bryant favored – were not included in the civil suit. The ministry received $25,000. The other entities named in the forensic audit report that were omitted from the lawsuit received under $25,000. 

The Warren, Washington, Issaquena, Sharkey Community Action Agency (WWISCAA), a defendant in the civil suit, was sued for as little as $49,190.

Lobaki Inc., another company that criminal defendants have admitted to defrauding the government in order to lavish with hundreds of thousands of welfare dollars, is also omitted from the civil suit. 

MDHS initially announced shortly after receiving the forensic audit that the agency would be suing both the athletic foundation and Lobaki – but then the governor’s office instituted its “objective process.”

When Pigott started seeking information about the volleyball scheme, the largest known purchase within the $77 million welfare scandal, the state abruptly removed him from the case. 

The volleyball project began in 2017 when Favre began seeking support for a new athletic facility at his alma mater, where his daughter played volleyball. He had the ear of Bryant and welfare officials John Davis, then-director of MDHS, and Nancy New, operator of a nonprofit that had started receiving a windfall of federal grant funds from the department.

The federal government prohibits states from using this money, a block grant called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, on brick and mortar, so officials devised a scheme to conceal the true nature of the payment by calling it a lease. The nonprofit pretended that the $5 million lease with the athletic foundation would enable it to provide services to needy people. Nancy New’s son Zach New pleaded guilty to fraud over this scheme. The deal was signed off on by Institutes of Higher Learning and the Attorney General’s Office, according to IHL board meeting minutes.

A separate report from the same forensic auditors described the $5 million payment from Mississippi Community Education Center to the USM athletic foundation as unallowed under federal rules.

To explore all involved, Pigott subpoenaed the athletic foundation for its communication with several key people, including Bryant, his wife Deborah Bryant, and Favre. At the same time, Pigott also subpoenaed conservative radio station Supertalk for its interviews with key defendants in the case who often appeared on the show to tout their work.

The administration didn’t like the direction Pigott was taking.

“There seemed to be a pattern by the lawyer that DHS originally hired to want to move beyond those that were in that (waste, fraud and abuse) category for purposes of this litigation,” Reeves said. “It was almost as if there was a political agenda from this particular lawyer.”

As for the volleyball scheme itself – which could send Zach New to prison – Reeves equivocated on the legality of the expenditure.

“…while they may not have been wise expenditures, or they may not have been expenditures that I would have approved, the question is were they legal, or were they waste, fraud, and abuse. If they were waste fraud and abuse, then we filed suit,” Reeves said. “…I don’t know all the details as to how that (volleyball stadium) came about, what I do know is that it doesn’t seem like an expense that I would personally support for TANF dollars.”

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