Laura Prepon was forced to terminate second pregnancy

Laura Prepon had to terminate her second pregnancy due to serious complications.

The Orange Is the New Black actress bares her soul and breaks her silence about the painful decision in her new book, You and I, as Mothers: A Raw and Honest Guide to Motherhood.

In an excerpt obtained by People, the 40-year-old revealed that she and her husband Ben Foster opted to wait 16 weeks before telling friends and family she was pregnant, but during a sonogram appointment they learned the child had developed a condition called cystic hygroma, the medical name for a fluid-filled sac that results from a blockage in the lymphatic system.

"Our neonatal specialist told us the brain was not growing and the bones were not growing," Laura writes. "We were told the pregnancy would not go to full term and that my body was at risk carrying any longer... Ben held me as I cried. We had to terminate the pregnancy."

The actress feared years of self-abuse, including a lengthy eating disorder, had contributed to the problem.

"Doctors confirmed it wasn't but in those moments it's easy to punish yourself," she adds.

Laura fell pregnant again and she and Ben welcomed a son in February. They are also parents to a two-year-old daughter named Ella.