“9-1-1” star Justene Alpert opened up about her decision to terminate her pregnancy over a “rare genetic disease” in a lengthy Instagram post.
On Tuesday, the actress recalled being “rush[ed to a] genetic specialist to confirm the nightmare” that her unborn child “wasn’t going to make it to full term” in December 2025.
Alpert told her followers she and husband Mason Trueblood received the devastating news as she was entering her second trimester and telling family and friends they were expecting.
The “short phone call” took Alpert’s “happiness” and “light,” she continued, calling the news “hard to swallow” during the subsequent ultrasound when doctors “pointed out the fluids, the organs, etc.”
Alpert, who did not elaborate further on the baby’s condition, did note that the specialist said it came with “high risks” and “highly recommend[ed she] terminate this pregnancy and … do it quickly if so.”
The “How I Met Your Mother” alum remembered, “My husband and I tried so hard to savor Christmas Eve, and Christmas with our baby boy, fighting through the grief each day. … Mason and I desperately prayed for either a miracle or a miscarriage. Never had that on my bingo card. Still feels unreal.”
She added, “No one prepares you for this. No one talks about this. No one briefs you on this when you are trying for a family. It’s frustrating to say the least and sad and traumatic.”
Alpert wrote that when the abortion took place days later on December 29, she was “throwing up from the grief and trauma.”
“We didn’t want to have to make this decision,” her caption continued. “No mom or dad should ever have to be put in this place. The shame and guilt is unfair. Having to do this is something that is rarely spoken of and seems to not have the same kind of empathy as other situations. It’s the worst pain.”
She went on to write that her “son made his way back to heaven so loved and so adored already,” and the couple’s “New Year’s Eve was spent quietly, cuddling … on the couch.”
Alpert recalled, “We were still a strong unit no matter how splotchy we looked from our tears. We didn’t try to be strong. We were just us. Husband and wife. Bound by love and faith.”
She said the heartbreaking experience made her fall “more in love” with her husband as he supported her “for better or for worse [and] in sickness and in health.”
In the carousel of snaps she posted along with her statement, Alpert shared pregnancy moments prior to the life-changing news.
“I wanted to share some of the earlier times with some of our friends,” she explained. “These videos make me smile and I’m glad we were beginning to share the news.”
She also thanked her “support system” who constantly checked in on the pair throughout the ordeal.
“The dinners, the girls nights, the random texts I still get, the flowers that turned our home into an English Garden, the dance classes, the phone calls while I drive to work, the Disney trips, the hugs, all of it — we are nothing without you and Mason and I are SO appreciative,” Alpert gushed.
The “Lincoln Lawyer” alum shared her experience in the hopes it reaches other women going through a similar situation feeling “alone,” “shattered” or “frantic.”
Alpert concluded with a letter reading, “To our baby boy, Mads Mason Trueblood, thank you for making me a mom. You are the one who gave me the backbone when I was doubting if I was ready to be a mom or not. Boy oh boy, kiddo, I was ready for you. I loved you then, I love you now and I will love you forever.”
