Former West Point Cadet Admits Drugging Pregnant Girlfriend to Force an Abortion; Victim Files Civil Lawsuit
A former United States Military Academy cadet, Caleb Suh, pleaded guilty in federal court this past June to drugging his then-girlfriend, a fellow West Point cadet, and administering abortion pills to her against her will, causing her to miscarry, the Associated Press reported. On October 28 the woman sued Suh in a New York court under the name Jane Doe, seeking unspecified damages, bringing a case that had played out quietly into public view.
According to prosecutors and the lawsuit, the two began dating at West Point in 2020. When the woman became pregnant in 2022 she was 19 and in her second year; she wanted to have the baby and Suh did not. Suh told the judge he impersonated her to open an online pharmacy account and order abortion medication, obtained the sedative Xanax from a friend, and duped her into drinking what he said was a prenatal protein shake laced with the sedative. After she fell asleep, he administered the abortion pills orally and vaginally. She woke to find herself bleeding, called 911 and was hospitalised; the pregnancy was lost. She reported Suh to the Army Criminal Investigation Division at West Point in May 2022; he initially told an academy investigator the miscarriage was accidental and denied ordering the medication.
Suh pleaded guilty in June to felony assault, telling the court he was 'deeply and immeasurably sorry for my actions and the pain that I have caused.' He is awaiting sentencing, which his lawyer recently succeeded in having put off until January so that Suh can finish his semester in a Columbia University public health master's programme; prosecutors did not oppose the delay.
The case has raised questions about university admissions screening. Suh transferred to Cornell University in the 2023-24 school year and graduated this year. Cornell said in a statement on November 2 that Suh answered 'no' to an application question asking whether he had been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at any previous institution, and that West Point reported he was in good academic standing and eligible to return. In September he began a master's programme at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health; Columbia declined to comment on his current status, citing educational privacy laws. West Point has not provided information on the findings or outcome of its probe, or on any discipline Suh faced. The woman's lawyer, Russell Kornblith, said she had suffered 'a life-changing event' and hoped coming forward would ensure it never happens to anyone else.
Source: Associated Press
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国纽约州西点镇的美国军事学院学员教堂（资料图）。照片为公共领域作品，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Cadet Chapel at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York (file photo). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
