Welcome to our July edition of the Rapp Up!

This month in our Over the Fence interview, Rappahannock Food Pantry president Noel Laing talks about the vital role of the Food Pantry and explains why issues such as affordable housing are so important to the county.

The Our Take section features two perspectives on the coming political battle in the Virginia legislature over abortion and reproductive health access. The first examines how Governor Youngkin’s early proposal could harm Virginian women. The second looks at what a comprehensive and compassionate approach to reproductive health services would look like.

In the Around the Commonwealth section, we feature two “good news” stories: the first about how federal regulators are ramping up the crackdown on Big Ag price-fixing - this time with a steep fine levied on Smithfield Foods. The second highlights the expansion of women’s Medicaid coverage from only 6o days to a full year after childbirth.

In Other News, there is a great explanation of how Senator Warner is leading a bipartisan effort to crackdown on manipulation of consumers by some online companies.

So it’s a full issue! Happy reading. Is there a topic you would like to hear more about in future newsletters? Just click here to leave us a message. And, if you have not already, please  subscribe!

Over the Fence Interview with Noel Laing, President and Board Chair of the Rappahannock Food Pantry

Interviewed by Casey Eitner

Tell us a little about the Food Pantry? How did it start? Where is it heading?

It was started about 12 years ago – the initial impetus came from Hal Hunter, who is behind just about every initiative to help the poor and disadvantaged in the county.  I started to help out and was asked by Mimi Forbes, who has been the manager since the start, to get on the board about 18 months later, driven by a desire to give back in an area where there was a huge need. My family has had its roots here since the 1920’s so it was natural for me to help the community.  The operation started in the Town of Washington in a space that immediately became too small for what we were doing.  As soon as we moved to our current location in Sperryville, we knew it would not be ideal – because it was also too small and because it was on the edge of the community we were serving. Most of our recipients of what we provide, what we call our shoppers, are from Amissville and areas closer to Little Washington.

What’s next to address that?

We looked closely at land off 211 closer to Washington that Jimmy Berg offered to sell us, but ran into cost estimates that were too prohibitive to build there from scratch. However, thanks to an offer from Chuck Acre for us to move into the Rush River Commons project across from the new Post Office, we are now very close to working out the details to move to what promises to be a very suitable location. So the future looks bright for us.

While we are on the subject of Rush River, what is your thought about the fuss about the boundary adjustment and the stumbling block about “affordable housing”?

The need for affordable housing in this county is quite germane.  When I talk to affluent people in this county some seem to have a blind eye to the poverty. They are just not aware of the people that need our services as they struggle just to make ends meet and feed themselves and their families. Our county is in the top 10% nationally of counties with high income inequality, so some of the recipients of our services may not be obvious to how the county looks overall.  And it’s not just the very poor, lots of folks who are from here and work here cannot afford to live here. 

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The Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe vs Wade is a gamechanger for Virginians – but not in the way that most people are thinking.  Before last week, abortion rights were largely argued in courts of law. The Court’s decision has turned it into a political question, decided in legislatures.  And in Virginia, where our legislature is so closely divided between the two parties, that means that success will go to those who play the political game best.

 Governor Youngkin clearly understands this new reality.  Although he admits that his long-term goal is to end all abortions, he knows that he needs to change at least one Democratic vote in the Virginia senate to more severely restrict abortion access. It is therefore no surprise that his brand-new proposal looks “moderate”.  It would ban abortions only after 15 weeks.

 The truth, however, is that even this proposal will seriously harm Virginian women and their families – and rural women in particular.  Why?

First, Youngkin makes no exception for the health of the mother.  Whereas the current Virginia law states that  exceptions can be made for the “health” of the mother, the Governor proposes only an exception for the “life” of the mother. That’s a big deal! Imagine, for example, a woman who may face serious and permanent disability from carrying a fetus to term. Under current law, she can receive an abortion – but not in Youngkin’s world.

 Second, the proposal also makes no exception if the fetus is not viable.  Imagine then the terrible situation of the woman who knows that her fetus cannot survive birth, but who would nevertheless be forced to carry it to term, further risking her own life and health.  

 Third, the proposal would put our medical personnel in danger of prosecution just for doing their jobs.  What if, under Youngkin’s proposal, a doctor determines the woman’s life is in danger - but an overzealous prosecutor disagrees?  Doctors could be hauled into court, maybe even sent to jail, just for doing their job.  One result could be that rural areas would have an even harder time attracting doctors.

Finally, Youngkin has no interest in correcting the fundamental unfairness for women of different incomes and counties in their effective access to reproductive services.  The truth is (as New World Virginia has detailed previously), women who are poor, uninsured, or living in rural areas far from reproductive health services do not now, and still would not under Governor Youngkin’s proposal, have the affordable, accessible, and timely care they need.  Moreover, Youngkin has already said that he wants to even further restrict access insurance coverage for women seeking abortions. 

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Virginian women deserve a comprehensive approach to reproductive care. Here’s what that might look like.

Governor Youngkin’s abortion plan consists only of restricting women’s access to abortion services.  This purely punitive approach to women’s reproductive health needs is flat-out wrong.  The decision to have a child is an extremely complicated one, involving questions of health, affordability and very personal needs.  Women should not have politicians telling them what they can and cannot do.  They need our support.

 Therefore, Virginians should insist that our elected representatives come up with benefits that average women really need, including: 

 --first, since many families often face the cruel economic choice that they cannot afford to adequately care for another child, why not adopt new state measures to expand child care and income support for families who need it?  

 --second, offer reproductive health services accessible in every county of the state, with no restrictions on insurance or Medicaid coverage for any kind of reproductive care. Reproductive care shouldn’t be only for those who can afford it. Every Virginia woman who needs it should get the timely and professional medical care she needs to make the right (for her) decision.

 --third, any later-term abortion ban should include exceptions based on the health (not the life) of the mother and the fetus – with that decision to be solely that of the mother in consultation with her medical provider.  Such intensely personal choices have no business being taken over by politicians.

 --finally, why not require paternity testing and a requirement that the father help with child support? Because, if there is one goal that should win bipartisan consensus, it should be to providg a decent standard of living for our children, and that is as much the responsibility of the father as the mother.

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Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Settles Pork price-fixing lawsuit for $42M, Virginian Pilot, July 5, 2022. New Rural Virginia has been reporting for months on how inflation trends are being driven in part by monopolistic price-fixing by big companies. Here is yet another report of a company being caught by US government regulators artificially driving up prices and hurting American consumers. This lawsuit is the result of stepped-up efforts by the Biden administration to boost competition in the food industry.

Northam-era expansion of post-childbirth Medicaid coverage goes into effect. According to reporting in the Virginia Mercury, (July 5, 2022), legislation passed under Governor Northam that will provide a full year of Medicaid coverage after childbirth will go into effect this month. Previously, many services ended only 60 days after birth. Rates of pregnancy-related deaths have been growing in Virginia. This expanded access to medical care for those in need will help to reduce these tragic cases. To read the article, click here.

Senator Warner pushes for Federal crack down on ‘dark patterns’ that trick users online, Virginia Mercury, June 28, 2022. Tired of being misled online by internet companies trying to grab your personal information or manipulate you into buying services you don’t need? Senator Warner is leading a bipartisan group of senators to ban practices commonly known as “dark practices”. A Princeton University study showed that at least 11 percent of websites use such deceptive and manipulative practices. This is why we need smart and tough regulators.