Anti-abortion activist climbs San Francisco skyscraper, arrested on trespassing charges

A 22-year-old anti-abortion activist from Nevada scaled San Francisco's tallest building on Tuesday, police and his family said.

Las Vegas resident Maison Des Champs was arrested and booked on suspicion of trespassing and resisting arrest, police said, after getting to the top of 61-floor Salesforce Tower.

It's the tallest building in San Francisco and 12th highest in the United States, according to its owners.

Des Champs was arrested just before 11 a.m. PDT on top of the building at 415 Mission St., officials said.

“The climber’s motive is still under investigation,” SFPD spokesman Officer Robert Rueca said in a statement.

While police won't say what prompted the suspect to make Tuesday's death-defying climb, his mother Robin Des Champs said her son is an anti-abortion activist.

Maison Des Champs didn't tell his mother about plans to climb Salesforce Tower, but she learned about it later in the day.

“He’s always been a daredevil," Robin Des Champs told NBC News. "I’m super glad that he’s safe and that’s all I can pray for.”

It wasn't immediately clear on Tuesday afternoon if Maison Des Champs has hired or been assigned a defense lawyer.

The climb came Tuesday as Americans faced the possibility that Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that granted abortion rights to women nearly 50 years ago, could be overturned.

In an unprecedented leak, Politico on Monday night published what it said was a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the Supreme Court would overturn Roe.

Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of the leaked draft opinion, but said it does not represent a final decision from the high court.