Gov. Matt Bevin signed House Bill 5 into law Tuesday, immediately putting in place a ban on abortions based on the sex, race or disability of a fetus, according to Tuesday court filing.

As the bill carried an "emergency" clause, the law took immediate effect with Bevin's signature.

HB 5 is one of two abortion bills just passed in the General Assembly that the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging in federal court as unconstitutional.

Less than 24 hours after HB 5 was passed last week, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to block it.

More:Why ACLU is asking a judge to make Bevin report when he signs abortion bill

Also:Kentucky's only abortion clinic resumes seeing patients as law blocked

It argues that HB 5 infringes on a woman's right to an abortion by imposing restrictions on her reasons for doing so.

In a Tuesday filing in U.S. District Court in Louisville, Bevin’s general counsel M. Stephen Pitt said the governor signed the bill on Tuesday.

He defended the law, saying it bans "eugenics-based abortions."

“In Plaintiffs’ view, somewhere in the Fourteenth Amendment’s penumbra lies a protection for eugenics,” he wrote. “This is a perverse distortion of Roe v. Wade … and its progeny.”

The ACLU asked a federal judge Monday to order Bevin to notify the judge and the ACLU when he signed House Bill 5, saying that “instituting laws that instantly affect critical patient care should not be a cat-and-mouse game.”

U.S. District Judge David Hale already temporarily blocked enforcement of another recently passed bill, Senate Bill 9, which bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy.

The ACLU argues the law is unconstitutional, as it would effectively ban all abortion in the state because most women don't realize they're pregnant at six weeks.

Bevin signed the bill late last week "in the dark of night with no public notice," the ACLU wrote in a motion filed Monday.

Earlier:More abortion bills win final passage with end of legislative session nigh

Read this:Abortion is not same as slavery or lynching, some Kentucky lawmakers say

The move forced Kentucky's only abortion clinic, EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville, to abruptly turn some patients away and cancel appointments Friday.

The abortion clinic resumed operations Saturday after Hale issued a temporary order banning enforcement of SB 9.

In total, the General Assembly passed four bills last week meant to restrict or eliminate abortion in Kentucky.

In an earlier court filing, the Bevin administration indicated it plans to aggressively defend the abortion laws.

"Consistent protection of the lives of unborn children is an interest of the highest magnitude of the commonwealth," Pitt wrote.

Reporter Deborah Yetter contributed to this report. Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mattg.