Magdalene laundry
Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries (named after the Biblical figure Mary Magdalene), were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house "fallen women". The term referred to female sexual promiscuity or prostitutes, young women (teens and children) who became pregnant outside of marriage, young girls and teenagers who did not have familial support, or young women (teens and children) who were deemed “difficult to handle” or “bad eggs”.