I have worked for two decades educating about and advocating for freely and fully informed consent processes which must by definition include genuinely supported options in medical care. I have walked paths with countless women who felt pressured, coerced, even forced to make decisions about their bodies and their health that they didn't want to.
I have listened to, and written about hundreds of stories from women (and from men) who have endured the trauma of coerced procedures they regret and grieve.

My PhD research uncovered and named the processes in our social, professional, educational and political spheres that contribute to a pervasive and alarmist pressure to a particular pathway.

Alarmist Gatekeeping has power in its dominance through two over-arching mechanisms. Firstly all messages must disarm the population by first alarming them through the use of disinformation and language designed to encourage fear. Secondly those who dare to call out the disinformation or demand discussion on the issues or draw attention to alternate perspectives must be swiftly censored and thoroughly denigrated so that all can see the punishment.

This effectively silences the majority and creates compliance even when such compliance goes against one's deeply held beliefs and values.

While the context of my research was abortion, and highlighted the many ways in which women experience coercion and the manipulative ways in which people are silenced and dismissed, Alarmist Gatekeeping is alive and well and never more obvious than on issues of Covid today.

People often denied that a woman seeking abortion because her job or education was threatened or because she lacked any resources to continue a pregnancy was actually coercion. Some of those same people are now saying that it is hardly coercion to demand someone have the 'jab' if they want to keep their jobs.

I described the abortion dilemma for women as being one of a decision between being able to fully participate in social, professional and educational worlds or be ostracised and abandoned in many instances.

It has been interesting to note so many abortion advocates, while always shouting 'freedom and autonomy' while denying coercive factors, also seem to be jumping on board the Covid mandates. I have to wonder how they decide which act of freedom or autonomy should be prioritised if a woman seeks an abortion and chooses not to vaccinate.

Today we see that those hailed as heroes less than a year ago; our frontline workers, are being talked about as the lowest of the low today if they don't toe the line and succumb to mandatory vaccination.

I've heard politicians say 'this virus will find you' and 'this virus will kill you' and then wonder why when someone is diagnosed with Covid, they are in terror.

I have heard the same disinformation from politicians, health professionals and the media on the issue of vaccine safety and efficacy. Yet there is mounting, overwhelming evidence that efficacy is extremely limited and safety is questionable. (AZ, Pfizer)

Whistleblower stories from Australian healthcare workers number in the hundreds and all talking about the dozens of people they see on a daily basis experiencing bizarre and often severe side effects from vaccines. They talk about being ridiculed, silenced, bullied and threatened sometimes for just suggesting there could be a vaccine relationship which should be reported.

Now thousands of workers face losing their jobs and their livelihoods, many of them living from week to week with families to support and bills to pay because they do not want to submit to what amounts to an experimental 'jab' with questionable benefit and clear risk.

I am furious. Not just a regular kind of angry that this is happening furious, but furious with a mother's fury. The lives and livelihoods of my children and grandchildren are under threat. We are now living in a state with a totalitarian government and there are so many so blind to this fact that they still believe their only safety lies in worshipping the government. "Just get the jab" they say... "don't you care about other people" How many tens of thousands of women have heard this dismissive demoralising message for decades; a message that tells them they should just be thankful for what they get, expect no more and do what everyone else expects regardless of the personal cost.

Alarmist Gatekeeping strategies mounted over a long period of time on abortion and people hardly even know it is occurring, accepting that women simply 'choose' and nobody has the right to question. The strategies have been employed with a battering ram on Covid and the generated fear has bypassed most people's ability to even think clearly and it seems that millions won't wake up until some of the fear subsides and they see what has been lost. I fear then that it will be too late.

It is time to wake up.