Disappointed with Getup

Recently driving through Brisbane I was confronted with 'GetUp's' abortion Billboard.

When Getup first appeared in my inbox I thought it was a great idea. Change public policy from the comfort of my computer chair, grassroots movement doing something about issues. People listening to the average person. I signed up and clicked support. But the longer Getup has gone on the more disappointed I've become with them.

I thought they were a thinking persons group. I thought they would understand the complexity of issues, encourage discussion and listening. I thought they would represent average people. Unfortunately they have turned into a knee jerk, black and white, shallow activist group for one side of the debate - as their billboard shows.

Now perhaps we can't expect more - activism demands you take an extreme position, that you shock and confront to make a point - but this is exactly what I hoped Getup wouldn't be - more of the same. I thought they promised to be an activist group for the thinking person. I long for an activist group that is about nuance and thinking and promoting understanding and the middle way!

This billboard shows a shallowness towards the abortion debate. It says to me that they don't understand that abortion is not a simple yes/no, good/bad issue. Don't they understand that abortion hurts. Firstly the embryo - of which we were all one at one time. It distresses mothers who are forced to make such a huge, huge decision. It effects staff who are involved in the process. To think it is as simple and dispassionate as eating a sandwich is just unconscionable.

That's why we have 'mixed up laws'. Laws that don't give a blanket ban or blanket permission. We can all think of extreme positions where we would, or wouldn't - but that doesn't represent the majority of situations.

I think 'Getup' have missed the mark with the average Aussie. Yes we want to show compassion on mothers finding themselves in terrible predicaments, but we don't want it to become consequence free - because it isn't. A society where abortion is done as easily as waxing, now that is a society that has lost it's moral compass.

Getup have taken a position and lost me.