Stevie Nicks' abortion isn't a success story. It's a cautionary tale.

Singer Stevie Nicks has previously admitted to having at least one abortion, saying she would not have had her successful musical career without it. But though her story is being hailed as one of career success, it might also be seen as a cautionary tale: so-called "protected" sex outside the confines of marriage can lead to destruction and tragedy.

Key Takeaways:

• Stevie Nicks has admitted to having at least one abortion and possibly as many as four.

• She said Fleetwood Mac would not have existed if she hadn't chosen to end her preborn children's lives.

• The Center for Reproductive Rights is promoting her abortion story as an example of how abortion allows women to be successful — but in reality, it should serve as a warning.

The Details:

The Center for Reproductive Rights, one of the largest global abortion activist organizations, published a video of Stevie Nicks discussing a past abortion on all of their social media platforms.

"I would have, like, tried my best to get through, you know, being in the studio every single day expecting a child, but mostly having a child with Don Henley would not have gone over big in Fleetwood Mac," Nicks said. "With Lindsay [Buckingham] and me, had — we'd been broken up for two or three years. It would have been a nightmare scenario for me to live through."

Rather than seeing this as a tragedy, however — that a woman was in such a toxic work environment with an ex that she felt she had no other choice but to abort her current boyfriend's baby — the Center for Reproductive Rights framed it as something empowering.

"This is a must watch!" the group wrote. "Stevie Nicks speaks openly about the abortion that allowed her to continue her career at the height of Fleetwood Mac’s rise. She makes it plain: access to abortion made her life, her art, and her voice possible."

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This is a must watch! Stevie Nicks speaks openly about the abortion that allowed her to continue her career at the height of Fleetwood Mac’s rise. She makes it plain: access to abortion made her life, her art, and her voice possible.

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11:30 PM · Nov 7, 2025

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The Backstory:

Nicks has long been an outspoken abortion advocate, admitting that she had one abortion in 1979 after a failed relationship with The Eagles' Don Henley. “If I had not had that abortion, I’m pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac,” she said. “There’s just no way that I could have had a child then, working as hard as we worked constantly. And there were a lot of drugs, I was doing a lot of drugs … I would have had to walk away.”

Obviously, placing the baby with an adoptive family would have been an option for Nicks, but women in the entertainment industry are frequently under intense pressure to abort their children for the sake of a career image. Even during Hollywood's "golden age," actresses were expected to maintain the illusion of "glamour" — and motherhood wasn't part of that image.

However, the abortion clearly affected Nicks; she said she would have named the baby Sara, which was the name she later used in a Fleetwood Mac song.

In a 1992 interview, she insinuated she had undergone four abortions in total for the sake of her music career. "To give up four babies is to give up a lot that would be here now. So that bothers me, a lot, and really breaks my heart. But they’re gone, so… " she said, trailing off before adding, "But I couldn’t have because I was too busy. And I had all these commitments."

Nicks continues to insist that the abortions were not only worth it, but were a force for public good. She released a pro-abortion anthem in 2024, saying it "may be the most important thing I ever do."

The Big Picture:

In her interview, Nicks noted how she sought an abortion because her IUD failed.

An IUD, or intrauterine device, has risen in popularity in recent years, despite the device's potential side effects. However, Nicks' story shows one of the problems with birth control: too often, it is used with the mistaken mindset that the person is protected from pregnancy. In reality, no birth control is ever 100% reliable, even with the best possible use, and pregnancy is always possible when a male and female are having sexual intercourse.

Yet — as illustrated in the interview — relying on birth control can lead to abortion. When it fails, the person tends to think they did everything "right," and therefore, the pregnancy is a "mistake" that makes them entitled to kill their preborn child. In reality, pregnancy was always a biological possibility. Consider the exchange between Nicks and the interviewer:

Nicks: I got pregnant and it was like, "Why? I have an IUD. I am totally protected. I have a great gynecologist. How come this has happened?"

So you took all the precautions.

Nicks: Yes, and I'm like, "This can't be happening. Fleetwood Mac is three years in and it's big and we're going into our third album." It was like, "oh, no no no no no no."

It would have destroyed Fleetwood Mac if you had a baby.

Former Planned Parenthood manager Ramona Treviño explained that, to Planned Parenthood, birth control and abortion are two sides of the same coin:

“Contraception creates a market for abortion by promoting promiscuity and providing men and women a false sense of security against an unintended pregnancy. The more promiscuous people are (especially young people), the more likely they’ll become pregnant.

The more people use birth control and adopt a contraceptive mentality, the higher the odds that they’ll seek an abortion. Because, let’s face it, if they’re using birth control, a child is not part of the ‘plan.’ Abortion is the backup, so to speak, for contraceptive failure, misuse, or lack of self-control.”

Treviño added, “Planned Parenthood is not in the business of prevention. Preventing unplanned pregnancy doesn’t generate a profit. Promoting abstinence, self-control, or monogamous marriage does not keep the blood money flowing in. SEX. Sex is how Planned Parenthood meets its abortion quotas.”

Managers Reveal Planned Parenthood is Not Real Health Care

The Bottom Line:

Women do not need abortion to be successful, and claiming otherwise is a misogynistic argument that punishes women for their ability to bear children.