PHOENIX (Reuters) – Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Tuesday signed into law a controversial bill that makes the state the first in the nation to outlaw abortions performed on the basis of the race or gender of the fetus.

The move comes as anti-abortion groups across the nation try to seize on gains made by political conservatives during the November elections, seeking enactment of new state laws to further restrict abortions.

Under the new Arizona statute, doctors and other medical professionals would face felony charges if they could be shown to have performed abortions for the purposes of helping parents select their offspring on the basis of gender or race.

The women having such abortions would not be penalized.

State legislators have said no such law exists anywhere else in the nation.

Backers of the measure said the ban is needed to put an end to sex- and race-related discrimination that exists in Arizona and throughout the nation. They insist the issue is about bias rather than any broader stance on abortion.

"Governor Brewer believes society has a responsibility to protect its most vulnerable -- the unborn -- and this legislation is consistent with her strong pro-life track record," a spokesman said.

But opponents have maintained that while such abortions may be happening in other countries like China, no clear evidence can found of it occurring in Arizona.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America also said the measure may erode a woman's rights, fearing that doctors for the first time would feel compelled to ask their patients the reasons for seeking an abortion.

A Planned Parenthood official in Arizona condemned the governor's action in a statement to Reuters.

"This law creates a highly unusual requirement that women state publicly their reason for choosing to terminate a pregnancy -- a private decision they already made with their physician, partner and family," said Bryan Howard, the group's chief executive.

The law contains no explicit provision requiring doctors to ask their patients their reasons for seeking an abortion, nor for patients to disclose such reasons. But opponents of the measure feel passage of the new law might make them feel more inclined to do so.

The law would take effect 90 days following the end of the current legislative session.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A former U.S. Border Patrol agent was sentenced to a prison term of 30 years to life on Tuesday for a bloody hatchet attack on a sleeping couple he mistook for his estranged wife and her boyfriend.

Gamalier Reyes Rivera, 34, was found guilty by a San Diego County jury last month of premeditated attempted murder, aggravated mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary stemming from the July 2009 attack.

The jury acquitted him of a charge of torture.

Rivera was arrested shortly after the predawn assault, which left one of his victims, Chris Anguiano, blind and suffering from brain damage.

"He tried to cut my head off," Anguiano told local television station NBC San Diego. "I thought I was dying."

Anguiano was struck by eight hatchet blows in all. His girlfriend, Samantha Shaffer, who was sleeping beside Anguiano when the attack began, suffered deep cuts to her legs and lost the tip of one of her big toes.

Rivera's intended victims -- his estranged spouse, Erika Von der Heyde, and her boyfriend, Jesus Vinas -- were asleep in another bedroom of the suburban Escondido house and awoke to the sound of screams.

Deputy District Attorney George Loyd said it was clear that Rivera, armed with two hatchets, meant to kill both Vinas and his wife because he had first attacked the man he encountered when he crept into the wrong bedroom.

The assailant fled when confronted by Vinas after the attack on the wrong couple.

Rivera, a former Border Patrol agent who joined the force in 2003, testified that he went to the home intending only to frighten his wife, whom he married in 2002, divorced in 2005 and remarried in 2007.

The couple, who had a daughter together, filed for divorce again in 2009 and were living apart and dating other people when the attack took place.

Loyd said the assault was foreshadowed by a "to-do list" that Rivera made in 2005 detailing how to kill his wife and get away with it.

Before he was sentenced, Rivera told the victims he was extremely remorseful for his actions, saying, "I wish I could make amends for everything that happened." To Anguiano, he added, "I can't imagine what you've been going through."

In his own statement at the sentencing, Anguiano told Rivera, "May God be with you ... that's all you have left. You're nothing but a number."

(Additional reporting by Marty Graham)

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Peter Bohan)