One may be given to wonder what is the purpose

John Bel signed the abortion bill just like he said he would. Despite what you might here from some of his Democratic apologists, there's no reason to believe he absolutely had to sign the bill.  There are any number of arguments a Blue Dog "Pro-life Democrat" like John Bel could have made for vetoing this extreme and cruel piece of legislation. He signed it anyway because he really wanted to.

The specific purpose behind the bill was to be as maximally cruel to women as possible.  KCP came back and gave the legislators a chance to deny this. They didn't deny it.

The ultimate hypocrisy! #lalege won’t fund the healthcare for women forced to have a child after rape or incest. @TheDemocrats @LaDemos https://t.co/aUSTlgJVvt

— KarenCarterPeterson (@TeamKCP) May 30, 2019