Rick Perry, the Republican governor of Texas, signed into law the nation's most sweeping new abortion limits on Thursday morning, in a move that is likely to be subject to a challenge in the courts.

The bill, which will drastically reduce access to abortion in the state, failed to pass last month because of an 11-hour filibuster by state senator Wendy Davis, a Democrat. It was passed last week after Perry called a second special session to do so.

"It is a very happy, celebratory day," Perry said, before he sat down to sign the bill, at the Capitol auditorium, where the bill-signing ceremony was held amid tight security.

"This is an important day for those who support life and for those who support the health of Texas women," said Perry, a staunch anti-abortionist. "In signing House Bill 2, we celebrate and further cement the foundation on which the culture of life in Texas is built."

A dozen state troopers were stationed outside the building, alongside scores of protesters in orange shirts, carrying coat hangers and signs that read: "Shame", according to Dallas News.

Bill HB2 bans abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy in the state, limits the procedure to surgical centres, mandates that only a physician may dispense or administer abortion-inducing drugs, and requires clinic doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

Only five of Texas's 42 abortion clinics currently meet the new requirements.

Republican backers of the bill say that it will protect women's health by forcing abortion providers to operate higher standards. They cite the case of Kermit Goswell, the illegal abortion provider from Philadelphia recently convicted of murder, as evidence that such standards are necessary.

Reproductive rights advocates say the measures are unnecessary, are aimed at banning abortion in the state and will force woman seeking abortion in the state to seek potentially dangerous alternatives elsewhere.

Perry has spoken of the need for a 20-week ban because, he says, the limits of viability outside the womb are being tested by modern science and technology. The medically accepted standard for viability is 24 weeks.

A poll in June found a majority of Texans opposed to the HB2 and 80% of them did not want abortion to be raised during the special session called by Perry.

The bill is set to take effect 91 days after the special legislative session ends on the last day of July. Women's and reproductive rights advocates said they are considering legal action against the bill.

State-by-state legal challenges being mounted

Terri Burke, the executive director of ACLU, said: "We are still investigating this. The folks that are behind this bill have a nationwide strategy. ACLU is a nationwide organisation, and our lawyers are still studying the bill."

She said they would fight the strategy to ban abortion on a state-by-state basis with a combination of litigation, legislation and voter education.

Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, described the bill as part of a "relentless attack on women's health" which will most impact those with the least access to healthcare.

She said: "The bill signed into law by Governor Perry today makes a terrible situation for women's health even worse. Already, Rick Perry and other politicians have cut more than 130,000 Texas women off from basic preventive healthcare, including lifesaving cancer screenings and well-woman check-ups, and this new law will severely limit access to safe and legal abortion, which will cause women to resort to desperate and dangerous measures."

Richards said the bill is overwhelmingly opposed by the public and by doctors, who know it will hurt women's health.

"In Texas alone, 80% of voters oppose special session passage of the bill governor Perry signed today, which is why the governor and his allies had to break the rules and shut down the democratic process to push this through the state legislature.

"The fight over this law will move to the courts, while the bigger fight for women's access to health care in Texas gains steam. People are enraged by this law, and it has created a whole new generation of activists who are in it for the long run to elect leaders who will protect women's health."

Any lawsuit challenging HB2 is likely to be based on the US supreme court ruling in Roe v Wade 40 years ago. The court ruled that state law cannot put substantial obstacles in the way of a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion up to the limit of viability outside the womb.

The point of viability is normally 24 weeks. Groups could seek an injunction to block some parts of the law.

Legislation similar to four components of the Texas law have been struck down by district and federal courts across the US. Bills proposing a ban on abortion at 20 weeks or above have been struck down by courts in Arizona, Arkansas and Georgia, while a requirement for admitting privileges was said by a judge in Wisconsin to have "no medical purpose".

Similar rulings exist from federal courts in Mississippi and Alabama. The burdensome regulations known as Trap laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) included in the Texas bill have was also been struck down. And in North Dakota last week, a district judge struck down legislation on medicated abortion.

• This article was amended on 19 July 2013 to correct the spelling of "to sign [rather than 'sin'] the bill.