It has been long disputed whether a musician enjoying the height of their fame can also be a responsible and attentive parent. This, in turn, leads to the question of what a musician needs to do if they get pregnant but also want to pursue their career. While some support that people who do not have the financial and psychological well-being to raise a child should have an abortion, others believe that aborting a child is a heavenly disgrace.
As musicians go on tours and spend long hours in the studio, they have little time to fulfill their parental duties. Thus, starting a family comes with a price for celebrities. It seems like Stevie Nicks went through similar experiences and derived her own lessons from them since the musician disclosed that she had ended her pregnancy in the late ’70s.
At the time, Fleetwood Mac had gained recognition and significant commercial success with 1977’s ‘Rumours,’ and to Stevie, it wasn’t the best time to be a mother. When Nicks found out she was expecting, Fleetwood Mac was traveling the world and touring immensely; so she had to get an abortion. However, the incident affected her, and it’s rumored that she went on to write a song for her unborn child.
Which Song Did Stevie Nicks Write For Her Unborn Child?
At the time, Stevie was dating another well-known figure, the Eagles’ Don Henley. Their relationship lasted for around two years, on and off. As the couple was busy with their respective bands, the timing of Stevie’s pregnancy wasn’t great. In the end, the musicians decided that an abortion would be better for the sake of their careers. Thus, Stevie terminated her pregnancy, and the couple broke up soon after that.
When Fleetwood Mac’s song ‘Sara‘ was released as a single from the 1979’s ‘Tusk,’ double LP, the timeline of the song’s creation period coincided with Nicks’ termination of her pregnancy. Since then, the track’s origins have been a matter of discussion. In the early ’90s, Nicks was a guest of Tommy Vance on his radio show, and she expressed that the song was partially written about her good friend and bandmate Mick Fleetwood’s wife, Sara Fleetwood.
For Don Henley, however, the song was dedicated to someone else. While the drummer was discussing his relationship with the singer, Henley explained that Stevie had previously suggested naming their unborn child Sara. He then expressed that Nicks had written the hit song in the baby’s memory.
Henley explained:
“Stevie had named the unborn kid Sara, and she had an abortion. She then wrote the song of the same name and dedicated it to the spirit of the aborted baby.”
Nicks’ bandmate Mick Fleetwood backed Stevie’s previous statement regarding ‘Sara’s origins. Fleetwood stated in his 2014 autobiography that there was a good possibility that ‘Sara’ was dedicated to his wife and Stevie’s good friend, Sara. In recent years, Stevie discussed the creation of the song once again. This time, however, she hinted at the possible truth in her ex-partner Henley’s words.
Her statement follows:
“Had I married Don and had that baby, and had she been a girl, I would have named her Sara. But there was another woman in my life named Sara, who shortly after that became Mick’s wife, Sara Fleetwood.”
It is clear that Stevie Nicks took some time to make the right decision and ultimately did what she believed was right for her and her partner. Her career as a famous musician, following constant tours and studio sessions with her band, could have affected her parenthood. As Nicks has stated before, without her abortion, there would be no Fleetwood Mac.
