Ijeoma Otabor, better known by her stage as Phyna, is the woman who won the 2022 season of the reality TV show Big Brother Naija. She recently discussed why she had two abortions and what she said to her father when he asked her why.
Phyna divulged certain information to NAOMI CHIMA of Punch. She claims that she was a young woman and involved in a destructive relationship at the time the abortions took place. She also mentioned that she has a very direct manner of speech, which she claimed she got from her father.
When Phyna’s father called her to find out why she had made such a comment on social media, she explained to him that she had learned it from him.
Phyna had the following response when she was asked how she felt about the reactions of other people after she admitted to having two abortions:
“In my family as a whole, we are very open. People just read meaning to things and say whatever they want, I really do not care. I was just laughing at their responses to me because those that know me know me, I am an open book.
I actually responded to that woman when she said “I can’t respond to you, you are an abortionist,” and then I said yes that I have committed abortions. It is fine how people want to see me, I am not ashamed of anything about myself. If I ever make a mistake, I own up to my mistakes. When my dad called me about it, he asked why I said something like that, I just said daddy I learnt it from you oo..”
The reality TV personality explained the reasoning for her decision to terminate her pregnancies by saying the following:
As for my reasons for taking abortion pills, if there are 100 women in Nigeria today, 98 have done abortions. So, no one should judge me. I was in a 12-year relationship then and I was so young. The first abortion was when I was 19; I couldn’t go home to tell my parents that I was pregnant at that age. And the two pregnancies were so early like two to three weeks that I could just use tablets. The second was when I was 24, and I had finished serving then. I was ready to keep it but the relationship was getting toxic. He abused me and always beat me up. I said to myself that I couldn’t do this anymore, so I took it out and that was how I ended the relationship.”
Phyna also stated that if she had been a celebrity at the time of her pregnancy, she never in her life would have contemplated having an abortion. To quote her directly:
“Why would I do that? The way I am now, I have money to take care of 10 children, so why? In fact, if my parents were rich at the time of my first pregnancy, I wouldn’t have aborted it. But because I knew I was from a very poor background, we used to eat once a day then, especially in the afternoon and then carry it till the next day. So, keeping the baby then, was no option for me.”