Always Follow the Money: Breaking down the donations on Proposal 3, both for and against

It is difficult to not know about Proposal 3 in Michigan. Over the past few months, there have been mailers, yard signs, billboards, radio & TV ads, presenting a for and against position that would essentially do the following:

• Establish new individual right to reproductive freedom, including right to make and carry out all decisions about pregnancy, such as prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion, miscarriage management, and infertility;
• Allow state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, but not prohibit if medically needed to protect a patient’s life or physical or mental health;
• Forbid state discrimination in enforcement of this right; prohibit prosecution of an individual, or a person helping a pregnant individual, for exercising rights established by this amendment;
• Invalidate state laws conflicting with this amendment.

To read the full text of Proposal 3, go to this link, and scroll down to the yellow section. It is important that people read the full text, which provides clear language about what Proposal 3 will mean, but also because there has been a tremendous amount of misinformation from those who are opposing the right to reproductive freedom. 

A major reason why it is difficult to not know about about Proposal 3, is that both sides have spent millions in an intense campaign. What follows is a breakdown of the Political Action Committees in support and against Proposal 3, along with information on the amount of money raised and which entities and individuals have been funding the for and against campaigns.

The Reproductive Freedom for All PAC is the group that is promoting Proposal 3. Their website doesn’t provide much information on who is directing this campaign, although the address listed on the website is also the address for the ACLU of Michigan. The Reproductive Freedom for All PAC site provides some basic facts, a list of endorsements for Proposal 3, voter information, how to get involved, how to donate and contact information.

Citizens to Support MI Women and Children PAC is the entity that is behind the opposition to Proposal 3. Their website has a summary of the amendment, a coalition of groups in opposition to Proposals 3, resources, how to donate and how to order materials. There is a great deal more content on their site, but arguably much of the content is misinformation. 

The groups bankrolling the Yes and No vote on Proposal 3

According to the site Transparency USA, the Reproductive Freedom for All PAC had raised $43,627,073 and spent $33,995,387. The group opposing Proposal 3, Citizens to Support MI Women and Children PAC had raised $16,856,526 and spent $28,050,414. This means that the two groups have raised a combined $60 Million for Proposal 3. Just to provide some context and a comparison, the $60 Million raised for Proposal 3, is about one-seventh of the amount of money raised for elections in Michigan in 2022.

The top 10 donors to the Reproductive Freedom for All PAC are:

• ACLU  –  $7,397,500
• Sixteen Thirty Fund. –  $5,225,000
• Open Society Policy Center. –  $4,500,000
• Nishad Singh. –  $4,000,000
• Ljs Trust  –  $3,000,000
• Planned Parenthood Action Fund  –  $2,010,000
• Advocacy Action Federal. –  $2,000,000
• Planned Parenthood Advocates of MI. –  $1,150,000
• Connie Ballmer. –  $1,000,000
• Gwendolyn Sonthein Meyer  –  $1,000,000

Two of the largest donors from the Grand Rapids area are, Kate Wolters ($250,000) and  Liesel Meijer ($200,000). 

The top 10 donors to the Citizens to Support MI Women and Children PAC are:

• Right to Life of Michigan State PAC. –  $9,343,500
• Michigan Catholic Conference. –  $6,066,820
• Grand Rapids Right to Life. –  $300,000
• Catholic Dioceses of Saginaw. –  $100,000
• Diocese of Lansing. –  $100,000
• Jamie Powell. –  $100,000
• K of C Michigan State Council  –  $52,050
• JC Huizenga. –  $50,000
• Carol Ritchie. –  $25,000
• Ron Boji. –  $25,000

It is worth noting that JC Huizenga is from Grand Rapids, along with the Grand Rapids Right to Life chapter, which makes 2 of the top ten donors from Grand Rapids. 

We probably won’t know until next Wednesday morning what the outcome of Proposal 3 will be, but we do know that it has been an intense campaign with $60 Million being injected into the electoral process for one state ballot initiative.