⁍ Polish police will take tougher measures if mass protests target churches again, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

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⁍ Poland has been rocked by huge demonstrations, most of them peaceful, since its top court ruled last week that abortion due to foetal abnormalities was not permissible under the constitution.

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⁍ The ruling means pregnancy terminations in Poland will only be legal in cases of rape, incest or threat to the mother’s health.

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– Women in Poland are walking out of work today in protest of a new restrictive abortion law, as the country’s interior ministry warns that police will “take decisive action” if protests target churches again. Protests have been mostly peaceful since a top court ruled last week that abortion due to foetal abnormalities is not permissible under the constitution, Reuters reports. The ruling means pregnancy terminations in Poland will only be legal in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother’s health, setting it far apart from the European mainstream on abortion. Demonstrators accuse the nationalist Law and Justice government of influencing the court. The PiS denies this, but the ruling follows five years of PiS efforts to instill more conservative values in public life in close cooperation with the Catholic Church. More than 70% of Poles say they oppose the ruling, according to a survey published by the liberal Gazeta Wyborcza daily. Barber Kinga Rutkowska, who joined businesses across Poland in closing up shop on Wednesday, said women’s rights were more important to her than one day’s earnings. “Our lockdown losses were very big. The state doesn’t do much to help us. Too bad—we will lose, but they will lose more,” she said.