Sacred Refusal: Resisting Harmful Medical Systems

Sor Juana faced immense pressure to abandon her intellectual work and conform to narrow expectations of feminine piety. Her refusal—sustained, public, and principled—models a sacred resistance relevant to healthcare justice. People have been forced into medical procedures, experimented upon without consent, sterilized, subjected to unnecessary interventions, and coerced into treatments that violate their values and bodies. Healthcare justice includes the right to refuse—to say no to harmful systems, unethical research, unwanted procedures, and medical violence. This is particularly crucial for communities with histories of medical abuse: enslaved people subjected to experiments, Indigenous peoples sterilized, disabled people denied reproductive choices, trans people pathologized. Sor Juana's example shows that refusal need not be passive; it can be active, articulate, and rooted in deep conviction about one's rights and dignity. Healthcare justice requires protecting the right to refuse while simultaneously building systems trustworthy enough that people feel safe accepting care.