close
close

Stevie Nicks says not having an abortion would have “destroyed” the band

Stevie Nicks says not having an abortion would have “destroyed” the band

  • Stevie Nicks says going through with her unplanned pregnancy ruined Fleetwood Mac.
  • Nicks was inspired to write her latest song “The Lighthouse” after the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade had picked up.
  • An online poll found that 76% of women were concerned that overturning Roe v. Wade would impact their career advancement.

With the Presidential election less than two weeks away, Stevie Nicks, 76, speaks out in favor of abortion rights.

In an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, Nicks said that she had an unplanned pregnancy early in her career in 1979, despite having an IUD and being “fully protected.”

“I'm thinking, 'This can't be happening.' Fleetwood Mac has been around for three years. And it's great. And we're going into our third album. It was like, 'Oh no, no, no, no, no, no,'” she said, adding: Fleetwood Mac destroyed.

“It would have been a nightmare scenario for me,” she said.

Nicks also spoke about her abortion in an interview with Rolling Stone published Thursday.

“I'm not the kind of woman who would hand my baby to a nanny, not in a million years. So we would be dragging a baby around the world on tour, and I wouldn't do that to my baby,” she said.

It would have taken her not nine months, but a few years to take care of her baby. But that would have broken up the band, she said.

“So my decision was to have an abortion,” she said. “If people want to be mad at me for that, I don’t really care because my life has been my life and my plan has been my plan and has been since I was in the fourth grade.”

Nicks, who is not married and has no children, added that she has never regretted her decision to have an abortion. “Not only did it allow me to achieve my dream of being that rock and roll woman, but it also allowed me to be the person who just wrote that song.”

Nicks was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice. In September she released her new song “The Lighthouse”. She said she was inspired to write the song after hearing the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade had picked up.

“It’s not just about not being careful and having an abortion. It's about everything. It's about healthcare. It's an ectopic pregnancy. It's all the procedures that need to be done on our bodies that half of us never have, and the other half.” “Each of us has a lot more than others,” she told Rolling Stone.

A representative for Nicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Abortion policy has come to the forefront in the recent presidential election following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will be waived in 2022.

Kamala Harris' stance on reproductive rights has attracted a larger share of single women as voters.

“If Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, I will proudly sign it into law as president of the United States,” she said during her rally in Houston Friday.

While Donald Trump previously said he was considering a 16-week abortion ban, his public opinion on the issue has changed over the years.

The impact of abortion rights on career advancement

In a July 2022 online survey of 3,196 U.S. workers ages 18 and older conducted by LeanIn.Org, 76% of women were concerned that the overturn of the Roe v. Wade ruling would negatively impact their opportunities for advancement in the workforce would impact the world of work.

After the fall of Roe v. Wade, several women spoke to BI about how access to abortion rights had helped them in their careers.

Artist Favianna Rodriguez underwent abortions between the ages of 21 and 34.

“I knew I didn’t want to have a baby. The additional financial difficulties I faced only made my decision very clear,” she previously told BI.

Forgoing both pregnancies allowed her to pursue a career in the arts and achieve financial well-being, she added.

Similarly, Tracy Young, the CEO of two startups, recently told BI how important having reproductive rights was to her career.

“Contraception helped me plan the pregnancy so I was ready,” said Young, who had her first child as she “mature as a CEO and leader.”

“When I first built a startup and ran it as CEO for the first time, doing the biggest job I’ve ever done before, it just wasn’t the right time for me.”

Categories