Teen Mom 2’s Jenelle Evans opens up about her abortion

With the Teen Mom 2 premiere less than one week away, the ladies are spilling seriously juicy details about the fifth season. As usual, one of the most controversial storylines involves Jenelle Evans, who revealed in the trailer that she got an abortion.

Speaking with The Stir today, Jenelle opened up for the first time about the difficult decision.

“At the time I needed to do what I needed to do. I wasn’t in the best situation. I was living back at my mom’s, just got arrested for a felony charge,” Jenelle said. “I was in such a depressed state… My body was so out of whack.”

With that arrest, Jenelle said she finally came to see what Jace had known all along about Courtland Rogers.

“He didn’t like Courtland. He said he didn’t want Courtland around,” Jenelle said of how her son reacted to Courtland, whom she wed in late 2012. “It was surprising to me because I didn’t think Jace would ever say that about anyone I dated. It threw up a red flag.”

Although sources say Jenelle made the final decision to get an abortion after she began dating Nathan Griffith, she told The Stir that she didn’t know him at the time. She just knew that she needed to cut ties with Courtland, who was abusive and “not a good father figure.”

Now 16 weeks along with another pregnancy, Jenelle said she’s bracing herself for the inevitable backlash. (Which has already begun on social media and is sure to ramp up once the season starts…)

“I just don’t want people judging me off the abortion for this new pregnancy,” Jenelle said of the baby she’s expecting with Nathan. “I want them to understand why I did it and where I was at and where I am now and how much better I am now and that it’s OK to have a baby now.”

Based on everything we know about her vituperative, destructive relationship with Courtland, it won’t be hard for fans to see that Jenelle is in a much better — if not completely stable — place this time along.

The Teen Mom 2 fifth season premieres Tuesday, January 21 at 10/9c on MTV.

All photos from MRAY Photography.