As Eliza has said, in England (and Ireland) unmarried women who became pregnant were frequently comitted to asylums for "moral insanity" and often spent the rest of their lives there. In these asylums the "trusty" inmates often had to work in the laundry, washing certainly the bedlinen and clothing from the hospital/asylum, possibly much more. The abuse was not necessarily confined to the church; and certainly it reflected on the victorian/post victorian moral climate - " it's the rich what gets the pleasure, and the poor what gets the blame".