Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) has signed a legally dubious ban on nearly all abortions in Arkansas , where the procedure is already extremely difficult for women to access.

The new law outlaws abortion except in cases where the pregnancy poses a risk to the mothers life, making it one of the most restrictive such measures in the U.S. It makes no exceptions for patients pregnant through rape or incest an omission that even Hutchinson once said concerned him .

The governor cited his long-held pro-life convictions as his reason for signing the bill into law on Tuesday. He added that he would have preferred legislation with exceptions for rape and incest but decided to sign it anyway.

Like most other recent attempts at extreme abortion bans, the legislation is expected to face legal challenges from pro-choice advocacy groups before it can go into effect. But thats exactly what proponents of the ban want: to force the U.S. Supreme Court , newly loaded with conservative justices appointed by former President Donald Trump , to revisit the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a womans nationwide right to access abortion.