SUMMARY: A woman in Armenia decided to give up her newborn as soon as she found out that he was born with down syndrome. Only a week after she also decided to divorce her husband over the dispute of keeping the baby after it was born. Her reason for making the decision of giving the baby up was because she thought that it would have a better life if put up for adoption in a different country. She stated that Armenia is a country that is not capable of supporting children with special needs and she knew that her baby would not have the necessities needed to survive. Without consulting the wife, the husband took the baby with him to New Zealand and said that she would not have anything to do with what happens to the baby.

ANALYSIS: I think that places like Armenia should have different programs that help families who are put into the situation of having a newborn diagnosed with diseases like Down Syndrome. The mother giving birth is already put under enough stress and it’s important to have people working in the hospital that are going to help as much as possible. I also think that the best thing for the husband to do in a situation like this is stick around and try to talk about the situation rather than flee the country with the child, leaving the life no say in the matter.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Should the lady of given up her baby if she could not provide for the special needs in the country of Armenia?
2. Should the woman be forced to move to another country in order to take of the baby?
3. Do you believe that it is the husband’s right to raise the baby on his own in his home country, New Zealand?

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/woman-defends-husband-gave-newborn-syndrome/story?id=28798180