Polish protesters took to the streets after the government announced a near-total ban on abortions

• Protests erupted in Poland this week after the government implemented strict limits on abortions.
• The ruling was made back in October, but past protests delayed its implementation until now.
• Access to the procedure has reportedly been declining in the devoutly Catholic country.

Thousands of abortion rights activists and their allies in Poland continued protesting Friday after the country abruptly implemented a strict ban on abortions Wednesday, months after the Constitutional Court made the initial ruling.

In October, a top court in the country banned the termination of pregnancies with fetal defects, essentially eliminating almost all access to the procedure which already had strict limits. Now, abortions are allowed only in cases of rape or incest or if the mother's life is in danger, according to NPR.

Of the 1,100 abortions performed in Poland last year, 1,074 were because of fetal abnormalities, according to The New York Times.

The ruling in the fall triggered weeks of mass protests throughout the country, forcing the government to delay the law from taking effect.

It was unclear why the nationalist Law and Justice government, which is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church, chose Wednesday to suddenly implement the law amid the country's economic and pandemic struggles, according to The Times.

One protester, Nadia Klos, a member of LGBT group Queer Tour, told the newspaper it was unbelievable that the government was forcing through changes during the pandemic.

"It's an attempt to take away the rights of half of the citizens by referring to religion, when it's all about power," Klos said.

Protests began after the decision was made Wednesday and continued into Thursday and Friday. One demonstration turned tense when police officers told protesters they needed identification to leave the area, The Times reported. Video from the scene appeared to show protesters attempting to break through the officers blocking them.

Another protester, Iwonna Kowalska, a member of a group called the Polish Grandmas, told The Times that the ruling was a step backward.

"This is what the communists would do, too," Kowalska said. "They would wait for a time when everything is collapsing and then make changes."

Poland is one of Europe's most devout Catholic countries, according to Reuters, and abortion access has been declining even without the strict law in place, as more doctors refuse to administer them because of religious beliefs, leading many Polish women to seek abortions abroad.

A politician in the Law and Justice Party, Marek Suski, said the party would consider allowing the most extreme fetal deformities to be excluded from the new law, Reuters reported.

"In cases when the foetus doesn't have a skull or has no chance to live outside the womb, there should be a choice. We will work on this," Suski told public radio.