Wanted for funding the criminalization of Abortion: The DeVos Family

This is the first in a series of WANTED posters, looking at individuals, families and organizations in West Michigan that have contributed significantly to the criminalization of abortion and the undermining of reproductive justice.

The DeVos family has probably done more than any single family in West Michigan to contribute to the criminalization of abortion. The DeVos family undermines the efforts of reproductive justice through their money and political influence.

First, the DeVos family funds the anti-abortion movement through their foundations – the Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation, the Dick & Betsy DeVos Foundation, the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation, the Dan & Pamella DeVos Foundation and the CDV5 Foundation. The DeVos family has been consistently the largest funder of the anti-abortion movement from West Michigan, which not only has included funding to groups like Right to Life, it means funding “pregnancy resource centers,” and other groups like Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Acton Institute, the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Council for National Policy, the Federalist Society, Hiilsdale College, and many other groups that include opposition to abortion as part of their work/mission. To see the history of their foundation contributions, you can download our document, a DeVos Family Reader. 

Second, the DeVos family has provided millions of dollars to political candidates and to the Republican Party, which has consistently opposed abortion and have weakened women’s access to abortion at the state level for the past four decades. According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, between 1999 and 2016, the DeVos family contributed $81 Million to the Republican Party. In 2018, the DeVos family contributed $11 million, leading up to the 2018 Election and in 2020, GRIID documented that they contributed $12.7 million in the 2020 Election. This means that the DeVos family has contributed a little over $100 million since 1999 to Republican candidates, all of whom are endorsed by Right to Life and are staunchly committed to opposing abortion. 

We encourage you to share this poster and consider directing some of your rage at the recent US Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v Wade towards the DeVos family. We know where they live and where their headquarters are located in downtown Grand Rapids.