Upon entry, the shelves of free children’s shoes and a note of invitation to take them sets the tone for the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center on the corner of Eighth Street and Maryland Avenue NE. This former corner store now offers solace, counseling, baby needs and a hug from Executive Director Janet Durig.

The Client List
The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center is for wellness as well as crisis, a faith-based non-profit that offers help to over 2,000 families per year. Ignorance is a huge hurdle, so CHPC educates clients on how to avoid pregnancy and disease. They educate new moms on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, get medical help for teens with sexually transmitted diseases, and provide a safe haven for college girls to take a pregnancy test and talk through their situation. They offer help without judgment.

While most every teen marks their entrance survey as not knowing their father, Janet has noted an increase in the number of men who are taking an active role in childrearing. CHPC offers a class for dads on how to care for babies, as well as a mentoring class for boys.

They offer counseling for post-abortive depression, “A layer of hurt … sometimes, women don’t even know that’s what’s causing their depression five years later,” says Janet, who has been in this business for 20 years and has seen it firsthand. “We do not argue [that abortion is] the law of the land … but it’s something that needs to be healed.”

Clients may come in once per month for supplies of clothes, formula, diapers – whatever they need that CHPC can provide. Janet and the CHPC staff get to know many of the clients, and that rapport is their greatest form of advertising.

CHPC Perspective
Non-judgment does not equate with non-counsel. CHCP offers a shoulder to cry on, lends an ear and then follows with a plan. It could mean getting out of a toxic romance, or an unhealthy lifestyle, or figuring out how to juggle school and baby.

The District has an AIDS epidemic – though preventable with treatment, infected mothers are passing the disease to their unborn children at an alarming rate. One out of every 100 young adults is HIV positive from unprotected sex. CHPC stresses the importance of abstinence as the only 100 percent effective way to avoid pregnancy and disease. “We’ve been questioned why we don’t give away condoms or talk about ‘why don’t you have safe sex.’ Well, if you go into the schools here in the District, you’ll see there are many groups who … give away condoms and promote safe sex … They do a very good job of it, but the kids aren’t listening. … It’s not working, or people wouldn’t need to come here.”

While it is not a requirement of clients, “Churches are a good place to go, where people surround you in love instead of condemnation,” Janet explains. She asks teenaged clients if they go to church, and “they might say, ‘no, but my grandmother used to drag me to Sunday School,’… and I’ll say ‘you ought to call her … and go to church with her and get connected again with people who can support you during this tough time in your life.’”

If a client looked at me and said, ‘I really want an abortion,’ we don’t sit here and say, ‘Well, shame on you, you’re breaking God’s law, and you’re going to hell!’ If ever I heard a counselor do that … she would be gone … that’s not what we’re about.”

How You Can Help
Volunteers are always needed to sort donations and answer phones. Contributions of maternity clothes, baby clothes, children’s books and diapers are welcome. “If one person bought one pack of diapers per month, we’d never run out,” says Janet. Become a counselor or mentor. CHPC requires counselors and mentors to be of Christian faith, though welcomes people of all faiths to join them in other capacities. Financial donations are appreciated; checks may be sent to The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, 713 Maryland Ave. NE, Washington, DC  20002. Visit www.capitolhillpc.org for more information.