A federal lawsuit is accusing a Tucson man of murdering his unborn child by poisoning his girlfriend with chemical abortion pills.
According to the lawsuit, 34-year-old Christopher Cooprider of Tucson met and impregnated his next-door neighbor (L.D.) earlier this year while temporarily stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas. Cooprider is a Marine pilot in training.
Cooprider’s unborn child, a daughter L.D. named Joy, died at around eight weeks’ gestation. Per text evidence photos included in the complaint, Cooprider pressured L.D. to get an abortion for months. At one point, Cooprider threatened to befriend and assist L.D.’s ex-husband in the ongoing custody battle over their three children if L.D. didn’t get an abortion. The complaint clarified that L.D. was the victim of physical abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, and that she and her three children were clients at a local domestic violence agency.
Early on in these conversations with L.D., Cooprider secured a mail-order prescription in his name for abortion drugs. After months of failing to persuade L.D. to take these pills voluntarily, the complaint alleges Cooprider dissolved them in L.D.’s hot chocolate to induce an abortion. Cooprider then allegedly abandoned L.D. as her body began to abort the child and refused to provide her transport to the hospital.
After the death of her daughter, L.D. allegedly discovered the opened abortion drugs in her home. The complaint stated 10 of the misoprostol drugs were missing, and one mifepristone and the two remaining misoprostol were set aside in a separate container. According to a picture of the misoprostol prescription in Cooprider’s name, four misoprostol tabs were to be taken 24 hours after taking the mifepristone. Only after three hours could another two misoprostol be taken, then after three more hours another two pills.
The complaint alleged Cooprider dissolved 10 misoprostol at once in L.D.’s drink.
While misoprostol-only abortions do occur, they come with their own potential complications: low blood pressure, increased heart rate, heart attack, cervical cuts or tears, uterine rupture, infection, and severe allergic reaction. Certain women may not take the drug if other health complications are present.
Texas law allows wrongful death claims to be filed for unborn children at every age of gestation, from fertilization to birth. Texas law also prohibits non-physicians from providing abortion-inducing drugs to expectant mothers.
Also named in the lawsuit was the virtual abortion pill business where Cooprider obtained the drugs, Aid Access, and its founder, Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts.
The same day the wrongful death lawsuit was filed against him, Cooprider updated his Facebook profile picture to show himself smiling amid a small group of male friends at a pickleball court.
Although Cooprider currently resides in Tucson, he originally came from Colorado and then attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Cooprider also had some experience as a professional tennis player abroad, and previously worked as a tennis coach at Tucson Racquet and Fitness Club.