Thousands of women and men marched through Warsaw and other Polish cities on Sunday (March 5) to oppose plans by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party government to tighten already strict limits on abortion and align the law more closely with the teachings of the Roman Catholic church.

"We protest against the ban on abortion and the ban on contraception - lack of access to contraception - but also the fact that we are not supported when we want to have children because the 'In vitro' IVF procedure is shut down, and because of the fact that adoption procedures are very limited," said women's rights activist Karolina Więckiewicz, one of the organisers of the Warsaw march.

Poland already has one of the most restrictive laws on abortion in the European Union, allowing it only in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother's health, or when prenatal tests show serious and irreversible damage to the foetus.

The powerful Catholic Church wants a total ban and the PiS put forward a bill last year that would have outlawed abortion in almost all cases.

However, after tens of thousands of women took the streets to oppose the bill, parliament overwhelmingly rejected it in October, 2016.

Nevertheless, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a bachelor with no children, has promised a new abortion bill.

Sunday's marches were organised to mark International Women's Day on March 8.

Many of the protesters demanded not only greater reproductive rights but also a reduction in the Church's influence over their lives.

Some of the placards being held by the protesters in Warsaw read: "Abortion in defence of life", "Are you against abortion? Then don't do it!", "The Church's mission is to make you stupid" and "Apart from wombs, we have brains. We can decide for ourselves".