One of the most striking essays in the new Radical Reproductive Justice anthology, which I reviewed for Rewire here, is Andrea Smith’s “Beyond Pro-Choice versus Pro-Life: Women of Color and Reproductive Justice.” It’s significant because of the connections Smith draws between the “pro-life” viewpoint and the prison industrial complex, and the “pro-choice” stance and capitalism.

Smith is a co-founder of INCITE!—a national network of radical feminists of color working to end violence against women, gender-nonconforming people, trans people of color, and their communities—and an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Riverside. During our interview, I asked Smith to explain to Rewirereaders why the new anthology is important. Here’s what she said:

It’s important that this kind of work is coming out because the mainstream [reproductive rights] movement has so defined things that it’s often hard to have a discussion about anything …. the “pro-life” versus “pro-choice” paradigm has so polarized everything, it’s entrenched us in specific positions that don’t allow us to critique and change as we go along. I think just getting out of those presuppositions, and for an opportunity to really build a movement that can constantly engage and critique, is going to be essential if you actually want to have real reproductive justice.