Why did Stevie have the abortion?

[KarmaContestant]

Stevie has talked about how there just wasn't time for anything else other than Fleetwood Mac. No time for a steady relationship, let alone a child. She was young, in her prime, partying, travelling, living the dream and seeing the world. Even though women every day manage to walk both sides of the line, Stevie didn't feel it was the right thing to do, *for her*, to bring a child into her crazy jet-fueled world of drugs, sex and rock and roll. From an outsider's point of view, it may seem a little bit selfish, but I honestly think it would have been a terrible thing if she'd had children in those days. Maybe it would have calmed her, maybe there would have been no Betty Ford, no Klonopin, no breakup of Fleetwood Mac after Tango - but maybe it would have been worse.

This brings me to Hard Advice from 24 Karat Gold. There has been some discussion on who the lyrics are about, other than Tom Petty filling the role of the 'best friend'. To me, the lyrics are not about a person, but about a life lived; about overcoming all the grief and regret and pain from *all* the choices she made and the failures she had experienced. It was 1995, before The Dance, and her life was in a slump despite coming out of Klonopin detox. She had to face, finally, all the hard memories and pain she had been covering up with drugs and escapism; after all those years of self-medicating with cocaine and then Klonopin, the reality of her choices was there in the daylight, plain to see. She was sober, finally, really for the first time since the mid-70's, and it was time to get over all of her past mistakes and decisions that led her to where she was at that moment. There was no husband, there was no Lindsey, there was no child, there was no Fleetwood Mac - there wasn't even a public interest in her career. Street Angel was a flop. No more medicating, no more hiding. It's time to get over it - this pain's gone on too long. Don't buy that doll. Come in out of the darkness, for real this time. And until you do, you're going nowhere.

And she did!