It wasn't how it worked then, either, at least for any value of 'then' in England for the past thousand years or so. Yes, premarital pregnancy was strongly discouraged. But it still happened a lot. And both of GP's family responses were absolutely common at different times, and both came from a deeply family-centred place. So I don't see it as absurd at all. Religion has always been for the sinners as much as the saints.