Gin
There are three possible reasons for this description:
- Gin has often been considered an abortifacent, hence the ruination of motherhood.
- Gin was also a cheap intoxicant, used in seduction for many years -- "ruining" girls and turning them into mothers.
- Gin was the refuge of the working classes, and many suffered from alcoholism, during the Regency and Victorian periods of British history, making women unfit for their role as mothers.