Emily Goodstein

Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom

Emily Goodstein is the Director of Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom (SYRF) at the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.  SYRF works to educate, organize, and empower youth and young adults to advocate for reproductive justice in a pro-faith context.  Since becoming the director of SYRF, Goodstein has overseen the launch of the program's regional training program for youth leaders, interactive online community, and program grant initiative.  Previously, Emily worked as Hillel's Tzedek fellow where she helped Jewish college students organize and execute social justice initiatives on campuses across the country. Emily graduated from The George Washington University (GWU) in 2005 with a degree in human services. During her second semester at GWU, Emily founded the university's chapter of Planned Parenthood (Vox), Voices for Choices. Over the past 6 years, Voices for Choices has grown to be a prominent student organization with more than 400 members, serving as a strong and vocal pro-choice presence on campus. In 2005, Emily became the youngest recipient of the Planned Parenthood Metropolitan Washington Champions of Choice award for community partnership.  Emily is an active member of the Professional Leaders Project, Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force (WACDTF), and the Women's Information Network (WIN), a graduate of the Rockwood Leadership training program, and recently became chair of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington's Young Professionals Board.  She is pro-choice because of her faith, not in spite of it.

Purity Ball vs. Hill Visit: Which Is More Effective?

Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom's lobby day was a significantly more effective way to educate young adults about sex education than a purity ball. We had a chance to talk about the life affirming gifts of sex and sexuality, and nobody wore white patent leather shoes.