A former West Point cadet fed his pregnant girlfriend a sedative-laced smoothie and then forced abortion pills into her body, killing the fetus, before enrolling in Columbia University's public-health master's program, a new lawsuit alleges, according to the New York Post.
The suit targets Caleb T. Suh, the son of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Chief of Staff Dr. Ryung Suh. According to the lawsuit and his guilty plea, Suh already admitted in federal court that he tricked his then-girlfriend in 2022 into drinking what he called a "special pregnancy protein powder" shake that was actually laced with the sedatives Xanax and Promethazine.
The woman, also a cadet and identified in court papers only as Ms. Doe, was overcome with drowsiness, and "Suh shoved abortion pills into Ms. Doe's vagina and in her mouth," the suit alleges. She lost the baby she had hoped to keep, while Suh went on to study emergency medicine at Cornell University and earned a bachelor's degree in 2024, according to court documents.
Suh was charged in Manhattan federal court this past spring and pleaded guilty to felony assault in June. He is represented by attorney Thomas Kenniff, who previously defended Daniel Penny in the Manhattan subway case, and is awaiting sentencing.
The suit says Suh then enrolled in Columbia's master's program in Manhattan. A source with knowledge of the situation told the Post that Columbia was unaware of Suh's conviction until the media began asking about the case, noting that applications do not ask about criminal history.
The source said the school "took swift action" after learning of Suh's past but did not say what that meant. "For years, Ms. Doe has been forced to grapple with her experience," the lawsuit states, adding that her life "has been irreparably changed, and she has lost a baby that she intended to keep."
According to the complaint, the pair began dating at the U.S. Military Academy in 2020, and the woman learned she was pregnant in 2022. She wanted to keep the pregnancy, but the suit alleges Suh was staunchly opposed and "even threatened to commit suicide if she did not terminate the pregnancy."
Suh then pretended to support her while obtaining abortion pills by stealing her identity, opening a fake account with an online pharmacy and having the drugs shipped to West Point, according to his plea and the suit. "My intent was [to] use the Xanax to unwittingly sedate my girlfriend so that I could then administer the abortion pills, which I had obtained via the online pharmacy," Suh admitted in his guilty plea, saying he got the Xanax through a friend.
The suit alleges Suh also posted questions on the pharmacy's online forum about the plan. When the woman recoiled at the taste of the drink, Suh insisted she finish it, "holding the bottle against her lips and forcing her to drink it," according to court papers.
She spent the next several hours sick and drifting in and out of consciousness, and she recalled Suh touching her during that time, the suit claims. She also remembered finding two pills in her mouth and spitting them out, only for Suh to push them back in and allegedly tell her, "Eat this It's good for you."
When she awoke, she was bleeding heavily and tried to call Suh, who did not answer, according to the suit. She called 911, and doctors confirmed she was suffering a miscarriage and performed a D&C procedure, the filing says.
The lawsuit alleges that Suh, still ignoring her calls, kept posting on the pharmacy forums about what to do if doctors found the remaining pills. The two broke up soon after, and Suh later described his long-term goal as becoming "a physician leader committed to advancing both patient care and structural equity."
The woman's lawyer, Russell Kornblith, said it is difficult not to be "incredibly emotionally drained" thinking about what his client experienced, "both by the loss of a pregnancy she intended to keep and being robbed of autonomy over her own body." She is allowed to remain anonymous for now, though a judge could later make her name public if Suh's side successfully argues for it.
Suh was charged before his first semester at Columbia and recently asked to delay his sentencing until January so he could finish the semester. The request was granted, and prosecutors are seeking two years behind bars.
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