Stevie Nicks says not having an abortion would have ‘destroyed’ the band

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

With presidential election less than two weeks away, Stevie Nicks, 76, speaks out for abortion rights.

In an interview with CBS News Sunday morningNicks said that at the beginning of her career, in 1979, she had an unplanned pregnancy despite having an IUD and being “totally protected.”

“I’m like, ‘This can’t be happening’. Fleetwood Mac is three years away. And it’s big and we’re going into our third album. destroyed Fleetwood Mac.”

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

Nicks also addressed her miscarriage in an interview with Rolling Stonepublished Thursday.

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

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She would not have needed nine months, but a few years to care for her baby. But doing so would have broken up the band, she said.

“So my decision was to have an abortion,” she said. “If people are going to be mad at me about it, I don’t care because my life was my life and my plan was my plan and had been since I was in the fourth grade.”

Nicks, who is not married and has no children, added that she has never looked back on her decision to have an abortion. “Not only did it allow me to follow my dream of being this rock ‘n’ roll woman, but it allowed me to be this person who just wrote this 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 that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade.

“It’s not just about not being careful and having an abortion. It’s everything. It’s all the health care. It’s an ectopic pregnancy. It’s all the procedures that have to be done in our body, like half of us never get, and half of us have a lot more than other people,” 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 politics have come to the fore in the recent presidential election following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Kamala Harris’ stance on reproductive rights has attracted a higher proportion of voters who are single women.

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

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

The impact of abortion rights on career advancement

In an online poll of 3,196 American workers aged 18 and older conducted in July 2022 by LeanIn.Org76% of women were concerned that overturning Roe v. Wade would have a negative impact on their ability to advance in the workforce.

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

Favianna Rodriguez, an artist, underwent abortions when she was 21 and 34 years old.

“I knew I didn’t want a baby. The additional financial difficulties I faced just 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, CEO of two startups, recently told BI about the importance of having reproductive rights to her career.

“Pvanecontrol helped me time the pregnancy for when I was ready,” said Young, who had her first child when she was “maturing as a CEO and as a leader.”

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