A long-time member of the board of directors of Chemours resigned from his post, citing the company’s stance on women’s health benefits that include abortions.
Bradley J. Bell’s resignation becomes effective on Jan. 2. Bell’s biography has been deleted from Chemours website. Bell has been an executive for a number of materials companies and has served on corporate boards. The director’s post pays more than a quarter of a million dollars a year.
Bell said he strongly disagreed with the company’s 2023 health policy that pays those covered by its health benefits for transportation to states that allow abortion or transgender operations.
While “women’s health issue” has been a common label for the topic of abortion in social discussions, it truly misrepresents this practice and I believe we are facilitating a medical procedure with serious detrimental physical and mental health issues,” Bell wrote.
Bell went on to note that he is involved in an organization that provides services for parents dealing with unplanned pregnancies and amplified his remarks on what he viewed as the dangers of abortion.
Companies like Chemours, have been wrestling with the issue of abortion after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision and left it up to states to govern abortions. At larger companies, the procedure was often part of health insurance coverage.
Texas, a state where Chemours has operations, went so far as to essentially outlaw abortion and added what critics called a “snitch provision” that gives any individual the right to disclose a person who aids an abortion in a state where the procedure is allowed.
The provision has been criticized by the Biden Administration and praised by pro-life forces, some of whom also want to outlaw contraceptives. No abortion restrictions have been imposed in Delaware.
Abortion was also viewed as a factor in the past mid-term elections amid signs that a majority of women voters were not happy with the Supreme Court ruling and state restrictions that did not include exceptions for incest or rape.
Chemours is based in Wilmington and has a research and development center at the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus in Newark.
Click here for the Securities and Exchange Commission filing containing the letter.
