A anti-abortion activist aiming to raise money and persuade pregnant people to decide against abortion scaled the Accenture Tower in the Loop on Tuesday as confused and concerned onlookers watched.
Maison Des Champs, dubbed the “Pro-Life Spiderman,” climbed the 588-foot building without ropes in hopes of calling attention to his anti-abortion cause and raise money for the nonprofit organization Let Them Live.
Social media chatter, some with photos and videos, described the situation in awe.
Chicago police responded and arrested Des Champs. Charges are pending.
By the time he had scaled the top, a few bystanders straggled outside craning their necks to see.
Sujay Shah, 66, who has worked in the building for almost 15 years, said he’s seen a lot of crazy things but never someone scaling the building.
“He’s like a Spider-Man,” he said.
Shah said he had heard of the climber and knew he was professional. Shah saw him through the glass on the fifth or sixth floor.
this was not what I was expecting to see outside my office window this morning https://t.co/3YTDIEMiqq pic.twitter.com/LktfBx6Gy4
— J ????⚔️ (2.0) (@jerjjg) October 10, 2023
Des Champs has climbed eight other buildings with the same goal, including the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, according to a news release from Let Them Live. The climbs usually end with Des Champs being arrested.
“The most radical thing you can do in the pro-life movement is nothing at all,” Des Champs said in the release.
Timothy Moore, 58, said he saw the climber scale the building from the street.
“Go climb a mountain,” he said. “How many resources were taken up? How many fire trucks and police cars did this take up?”
Moore said there were other people in the city that actually needed those resources.
“There’s other ways to protest,” he said.
The Accenture Tower climb has a goal of raising money so one particular mother, “Sierra,” as she’s called in the release, decides against abortion. The goal is $27,000 to help Sierra be financially stable by the time her baby is born.
“Shortly after Maison climbed his first building to save babies, I found out he climbed the building to support Let Them Live,” founder Nathan Berning said in the release. “Today, he is climbing the Accenture Tower to save Sierra and her 17-week baby from abortion. We are so grateful for his support of our moms and babies!”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.