Social Stigma and Subsequent Ostracism The common perception of surrogacy seen in India was accurately captured by Mary Douglas when she describes it as a "cultural anomaly". Surrogates often face ostracism because society perceives surrogacy as an unconventional method of reproduction that challenges its traditional notions of motherhood. Surrogates from rural families lack family support as backward families do not approve of the idea of ​​artificial reproduction. Furthermore, society equates surrogacy with intercourse with a stranger and the commodification of the child and consequently disapproves of it. Surrogate mothers are also accused of adultery and prostitution for carrying a stranger's child. To avoid the resulting social stigma, surrogate mothers must resort to self-imposed ostracism by residing in clinic hostels for the duration of the pregnancy or by pretending to have suffered a miscarriage. Surrogates in these hostels face challenges such as restrictions on meeting family members and overcrowded living spaces as well as obvious limitations on their freedom. However, this is the only viable solution as they do not have the resources to find alternative accommodation in the face of social ostracism. This dilemma would be resolved if the social perspective shifted from viewing surrogacy as a method of abnormal reproduction to an alternative method of achieving the traditional goal of a genetically related child. In response to feminist criticism Some feminists support the idea that surrogacy could be a tool to de-biologize motherhood, consequently freeing women from the role assigned to them by maternal essentialism. Followers of this school of thought oppose surrogacy because they believe that women have...... middle of paper... American parentage”3. Imrana Qadeer and Mary E. John, “The Business and Ethics of Surrogacy”4. Amrita Pande, “At least I'm not sleeping with anyone”5. Elly Teman, “My sandwich, his oven”6. Kalindi Vora, “Potential, Risk and Return in Transnational Indian Gestational Surrogacy”7. Swati Bhattacharya, “Magical Offspring, Modern Technology: A Hindu Bioethics of Assisted Reproductive Technology”8. Anonymous, History of surrogacy: when and where it all began9. Judith Worell and Carol D. Goodheart (eds.), Handbook of the Psychological Health of Girls and Women10. Lawrence O. Gostin, Surrogacy: Politics and Privacy11. Katherine B. Lieber, “Selling the Womb: Can the Feminist Criticism of Surrogacy Be Responded to?”12. Jean M. Sera, “Surrogacy and prostitution: a comparative analysis”13. Sugato Mukherjee, Legal and ethical issues of commercial surrogacy: an overview