Maternity homes were a thing back in the day before the 1970s. Today, there are only a few maternity homes left. In these facilities, mothers can get free medical care if they lack financial resources for regular hospitals. At the time Karen was pregnant, maternity homes were mostly oriented toward adoptions, since having an illegitimate child was a taboo topic in the society.
The social norms of the time dictated that it was mandatory to keep such a pregnancy secret. The maternity homes from this era created many negative stereotypes that are still disrupting the work of today's modern maternity homes, which are a lot different.