Author

Isabelle Taft, Mississippi Today
Isabelle, an Atlanta native, covers health as part of Mississippi Today’s community health team. Prior to joining Mississippi Today, she was a reporter for the Biloxi Sun Herald and a Report for America corps member.
Mississippi doctors fear new abortion laws will tie their hands as patients suffer
By: Isabelle Taft, Mississippi Today - July 23, 2022
Dr. Nina Ragunanthan wonders exactly how long she’s supposed to watch a miscarrying woman bleed before Mississippi law permits her to perform an abortion. The OB/GYN in the Delta worries that the state’s new laws — banning abortion “except in the case where necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life or where the pregnancy […]
Mississippi mobile clinic is on front lines of reproductive, maternal health
By: Isabelle Taft, Mississippi Today - July 21, 2022
METCALFE, Mississippi – The clinic – a box perched on wheels and painted with trees and people – sat in the gravel and grass parking lot of a burger and wings joint called VNV Sports Bar and Grill, the only restaurant in town. Choosing where to park it in this Delta town of about 1,000 […]
Protesters, supporters look to the future on last day of legal abortion in Mississippi
By: Isabelle Taft, Mississippi Today - July 6, 2022
JACKSON, Mississippi – When the last patient went inside Mississippi’s only abortion clinic on the final day of legal abortion in the state, escort Derenda Hancock packed up stray bottles of Coca-Cola and water next to the driveway she has guarded for nine years. Wearing aviator sunglasses that hid her eyes, she leaned silently against […]