Second-term abortions, which are common throughout the United States, are now effectively illegal in Kansas after Gov. Sam Brownback on Tuesday signed a law prohibiting physicians from "knowingly dismembering a living unborn child and extracting such unborn child one piece at a time from the uterus," CNN reported.

While the legislation does not specify a time frame that limits when an abortion can occur, it bans the so-called "dilation and evacuation" abortion procedure commonly used during the second trimester of pregnancy unless necessary to save the life of the mother, the news channel detailed.

The law takes effect July 1, The Associated Press noted, and abortion opponents hope it will lead to the enactment of more restrictive regulations in other states, as well. Carol Tobias, the president of the National Right to Life Committee, told the news service that groups like hers see Kansas' move merely as a first step.

"This law has the power to transform the landscape of abortion policy in the United States," Tobias said.

Abortion rights groups, meanwhile, are already weighing challenging the new law in court, the AP added. They, too, say the new rules may have ramifications beyond the Sunflower State, Laura McQuade, the president and CEO of the Kansas Planned Parenthood chapter, noted.

"We will become a bellwether for future introductions of this bill in the states," she said.

Across the United States, almost 9 in 10 abortions are performed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and carried out by a vacuum method that will not be affected by the Kansas law, the New York Times pointed out. Some estimate that about 9 percent of abortions in the state could be affected.

The prohibition of the "dilation and evacuation" ("D and E") abortion procedure, meanwhile, may not prevent all second-term abortions as some alternatives exist, Dr. Kathleen Morrell, a gynecologist and obstetrician in New York and a fellow of Physicians for Reproductive Health, which defends abortion rights, told the newspaper.

But medically induced, nonsurgical abortions, are more dangerous for some women and can involve days of uncertain waiting and may require access to hospital facilities, the physician explained.

"When it is safe to offer a choice of induction or 'D and E,' my patients overwhelmingly choose 'D and E,'" she said. "They are able to be asleep and comfortable for the procedure and then can go home to their own beds at night."