An anti-abortion activist, who describes himself as the ‘pro-life Spider-Man’, has been arrested for climbing the 844-foot tall Devon Tower in Oklahoma as part of an ongoing anti-abortion protest.
As Maison Des Champs, 22, reached the top of the 50-story building – the tallest in Oklahoma – on Tuesday without safety gear, he was promptly arrested.
The college student, who calls himself the ‘pro-live Spider-Man’ is no stranger to climbing buildings and was arrested twice in May – once for climbing the San Francisco’s Salesforce Tower and again two days later for climbing the New York Times building.
Des Champs is an experienced rock climber, according to his website, and says he’s been motivated to climb for donations to the cause by the draft leaking of the Supreme Court‘s potential overturn of Roe vs. Wade.
When Des Champs reached the top of the Devon Tower in his most recent protest climb on Tuesday, he was taken into custody. There is no word on what charges he may be facing.
Des Champs posted video to his Instagram story Tuesday morning as he climbed Devon Tower
When Des Champs reached the top of the Devon Tower in his most recent protest climb on Tuesday, he was taken into custody. There is no word on what charges he may be facing
The Devon Tower has 50 floors and is the tallest building in Oklahoma
Des Champs is an experienced rock climber, according to his website, which also reveals that he wanted to climb the tower to ‘put a doctor behind bars,’ as well as raise at least a million dollars for charities advocating for women who are pro-life.
He said the leaked draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade gave him extra motivation.
‘These doctors are literally killing these babies on the table and leaving them out to die,’ he said. ‘We’re not trying to yell at women who want to have an abortion, we don’t want to blame them…we just want to let them know there are other options.’
It’s not known how much money Des Champs was able to raise or if he reached his million dollar goal.
‘I am a rock climber that has recently started climbing Skyscrapers to end abortion,’ his website – www.prolifespiderman.com – says.
Des Champs was arrested in May when he climbed San Francisco’s Salesforce Tower, California’s tallest skyscraper at 61 stories and 1,070 feet.
Two days later, on May 5, he conquered the 52-story New York Times building in Manhattan that
On that climb, Des Champs hung a sign on the building’s sixth and seventh floors that read ‘ABORTION KILLS MORE THAN 911 EVERY WEEK!’
Des Champs scaled the 52-story New York Times building in Manhattan and says he’s been encouraged by the draft leaking of the Supreme Court’s potential overturn of Roe vs. Wade
DesChamps, 22, had someone with him to record video as he climbed the 721-foot building on 8th Avenue and West 40th on May 5
The Times building has been an attractive nuisance for climbers because the ceramic rods on the building are spaced closely together.
Climbers protesting global warming, Al Qaeda and other causes have scaled the building in the past, leading to some of the rods being removed. However, people have still managed to climb the building in recent years.
Just days earlier, he was arrested for climbing the 1,070-foot tall Salesforce Tower in San Francisco without a safety rope or harness.
He appeared to only be wearing a hoodie, as several office workers inside the tower recorded footage of the climber reaching their floors without any climbing gear.
Completed in 2018, the Salesforce Tower is the tallest building in San Francisco and the second tallest in California behind the 1,100 feet Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles. The building also serves as the headquarters to cloud-based software company, Salesforce.
Des Champs also climbed up the entirety of the Salesforce tower without a harness in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe vs Wade in early May
Des Champs, an anti-abortion activist, describes himself as the ‘pro-life Spider-Man’
DesChamps filmed himself on Instagram climbing up all 61 stories of the Salesforce Tower in May, in which he says in one video: ‘Everything’s going good, I just wish I had more water’
Office workers from inside the tower filmed Des Champs climbing up their floor levels
Des Champs, seen here climbing the Salesforce Tower in May, started rock climbing at the age of 16, and is a finance major at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Throughout his journey to the top of the Salesforce Tower, Des Champs filmed himself on Instagram.
At one point, he was seen on his story (@maison.deschamps) saying: ‘Everything’s going good, I just wish I had more water’ and raising awareness for anti-abortion groups. He also called out Dr. Cesare Santangelo, an obstetrician-gynecologist in D.C. in another video.
‘I’m up here climbing right now to protest Dr. Santangelo in Washington D.C.,’ he says from high up the tower. ‘There’s been no investigation so far. The guy is out there killing babies. I think that’s pretty bad. I’d like to help out and share this around or go to prolifespiderman.com and you can donate and help us raise some money for charities that support women in prolife. Thank you.’
Des Champs was targeting Dr. Santangelo after non-profit, pro-life group Live Action, released undercover footage in which the D.C.-based doctor appears to say that he would refuse to help a baby if it was born alive after an abortion attempt.
Des Champs, who started rock climbing at the age of 16, is a finance major at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It is unclear why he is in the San Francisco area, but the student claims that he climbed the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2021 to protest COVID-19 mandates.