An anti-abortion activist scaled the Accenture Tower in the West Loop Tuesday morning as confused and concerned onlookers watched.
Maison Des Champs, dubbed the “Pro-Life Spider-Man,” climbed the 588-foot building in 67 minutes without ropes, in hopes of calling attention to his anti-abortion cause and raising money for the nonprofit organization Let Them Live. He started his climb about 9:45 a.m.
Chicago police responded and arrested Des Champs after he finished. Charges were pending Tuesday evening.
By the time he had scaled the top, a few bystanders outside were craning their necks to see.
Sujay Shah, 66, who has worked in the building 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
Accenture Tower building management declined to comment.
Des Champs has climbed eight other buildings, including the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, according to a statement 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 statement.
Some organizers standing at the base of the building and filming were detained, according to Timothy Clement, a spokesperson for Let Them Live. A video posted on Des Champs’ Instagram shows A.J. Hurley being handcuffed, Clement said.
“[Des Champs] believes in the cause,” Clement told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He uses his talent to bring awareness to the cause and to raise money for mothers so they will choose life.”
Alicia Hurtado, movement building director for the Chicago Abortion Fund, condemned Des Champs’ ascent and said anti-abortion acts have been on the rise since the U.S. Supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
“The organization being amplified by this dangerous stunt is the antithesis of reproductive justice, and we instead hope that this moment is used to amplify groups on the ground that are standing up for bodily autonomy for all,” Hurtado said in a statement.
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 firetrucks and police cars did this take up? There’s other ways to protest,” he said.
Veronica Mitchell, 26, who works at the Jamba Juice in the building, said she walked over to the window this morning when someone asked her if she had seen the climber.
“Crazy. Like, what’s going on in your head?” she said.
Mitchell said the escalators and elevators stopped functioning as police officers and SWAT members swarmed around and inside the building.
Des Champs’ Accenture Tower climb had a goal of raising money so one particular mother, “Sierra,” as she’s called in the statement, would decide against abortion. The goal was $27,000, to help her be financially stable by the time her baby is born.
