EXCLUSIVE: Republican presidential candidate and former governor and ambassador Nikki Haley will unveil her Veterans for Nikki coalition next week during a two-day swing through New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

And Haley, the only female candidate among the major contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, will also launch a Women for Nikki New Hampshire coalition. The announcements, shared first with Fox News on Thursday, will come as the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations makes her fourth swing through the Granite State since declaring her candidacy for the White House in February.

Serving as the honorary chair of Veterans for Nikki is someone that Haley knows quite well – her husband Michael – who’s a member of the South Carolina National Guard and a full-time federal military technician. He joined the National Guard following 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and in 2013, he became the first spouse of a sitting governor to serve in a combat zone when he deployed to Afghanistan.

‘When my National Guard unit deployed to Afghanistan while Nikki was governor, I had no doubt that our family and our state would be in strong, capable hands,’ Michael Haley said in a statement. ‘Nikki is fearless and has always had the backs of our veterans and armed forces. As commander-in-chief, she will lead with grit and resolve.’ 

Jason Church, a retired U.S. Army captain who lost both of his legs in an IED explosion during his first deployment to Afghanistan, will also serve as part of the veterans coalition leadership team. ‘A President Nikki Haley will face America’s national security threats with backbone and courage,’ he emphasized.

Haley will announce her veterans coalition next Wednesday, May 24, during a campaign event at VFW Post 1631 in Concord, New Hampshire. Headlining the event will be retired Army Gen. Don Bolduc, a New Hampshire native who spent four decades in the military and served ten tours of duty in Afghanistan. Haley made multiple trips to New Hampshire last autumn to support Bolduc as he made his second straight bid for the Senate. Bolduc endorsed Haley after she launched her 2024 presidential campaign and has introduced her at numerous New Hampshire events.

Bolduc noted that as South Carolina governor, Haley ‘signed multiple bills to help our veterans and make the transition to civilian life easier. The bottom line is, Nikki Haley will be a commander-in-chief we can be proud of.’

While in New Hampshire next week, Haley will also headline the latest installment of the politics and eggs speaking series at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics, which has been a must stop for White House hopefuls for over two decades. And she’ll headline a No BS Backyard BBQ in Rye, New Hampshire that’s hosted by former Sen. Scott Brown and his wife, former congressional candidate Gail Huff Brown.

Riley Gaines, the former college championship swimmer who competed against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, said Wednesday that her advocacy in support of women’s sports has earned ‘amazing’ support among liberals.

‘I have gotten messages… from women and men who are lifelong liberals, who once prided themselves, especially women, on the original feminist movement, who are seeing what’s happening with the Democrat party now,’ Gaines told Fox News Digital.

‘Just a few weeks ago, all [Democrats] in the U.S. House voted ‘no’ on protecting women and girls in sports,’ Gaines said. ‘And these women, they’re seeing this and they’re fed up.’

‘The amount of support that I’ve had from liberal women who, again, consider themselves feminists, is amazing. These are women who are sick of their own party. These representatives are not listening to their constituents, and these women have had enough,’ said Gaines, who is also a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Voice.

Gaines also accused Democrats in Washington of ‘ignoring’ women over the Biden administration’s pro-transgender inclusion policies in schools.

‘The people in charge, the governing bodies, the representatives, the senators, especially on the left, they are ignoring the demands of women,’ Gaines said. ‘We’re asking for the bare minimum. We want fairness, we want privacy, we want safety, and we want respect, and they’re ignoring that.’

Gaines was on Capitol Hill for the unveiling of House Republicans’ Women Bill of Rights legislation. During a press conference Wednesday morning, she explained the bill would define the word ‘woman’ in federal law in order to bolster other bills like the House’s recently passed Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

‘It doesn’t prevent any laws from being passed for any other protected group, it doesn’t change any pre-existing laws. It simply defines the word ‘woman,’ codifies the term,’ she said.

As an example, she said the House-passed Fairness In Women’s Sports Act was ‘phenomenal,’ but asked, ‘what longevity does it have if we can’t define the word ‘woman?’ And that’s what this does. It gives longevity to bills such as the sports bill.’

The House bill is unlikely to get through the Democrat-controlled Senate, and if it did, President Biden is likely to veto it. He said last month that he would veto the women’s sports bill if it came to his desk.

Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., the Women’s Bill of Rights’ lead sponsor, acknowledged this likelihood as she introduced Gaines.

‘It’s a frustrating place… We don’t always get our legislation through, but this is really an important issue,’ Lesko said.

Throughout the event, multiple Republicans called on Democrats to take up the bill.

‘We call on the House, the Senate, and the Democrats who care about the future of women to come together and pass this bill,’ said Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla.

South Carolina’s Senate is set to vote on a bill that would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, often before women even know they’re pregnant.If passed, the state’s near-total abortion ban would add to the list of southern states with abortion restrictions. Some southern states that already have abortion restrictions in place include Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, and West Virginia,Virginia will become an outlier among the southern states as the only state without abortion restrictions if South Carolina’s Senate votes in favor of the bill.

South Carolina became the latest state to move toward a near total abortion ban Wednesday with legislation that if enacted would leave Virginia an outlier in the South as a place where women have unrestricted access to abortions amid a rapid rise in restrictions in the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

South Carolina is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions, but that status could end soon. Access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy — often before women know they’re pregnant — under the bill that now must pass the state Senate, which previously rejected a proposal to nearly outlaw abortions but could give final passage to the new legislation next week.

And most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will be banned in North Carolina beginning July 1 after the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday.

Abortion is banned or severely restricted in much of the South, including bans throughout pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. In Georgia, it’s allowed only in the first six weeks.

Such restrictions are possible because the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a nationwide right to abortion.

‘It would be just devastating for abortion access in the South,’ Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said of the proposed six-week ban in South Carolina, the 12-week ban in North Carolina, and a six-week ban in Florida that will take effect only if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld by the state Supreme Court.

But North Carolina Rep. Sarah Stevens, a Republican, said she sees the 12-week ban and other restrictions in North Carolina’s new law as ‘safeguards,’ not obstacles to abortion.

‘We seek to balance protecting unborn babies while ensuring the safety of mothers,’ she said Tuesday.

Stricter bans across the South would heighten Virginia’s role as an access point and create a ‘ripple effect’ as people travel from out of state to seek care, Lockhart said.

‘Despite abortion providers’ efforts to increase available appointments and expand access for patients through telemedicine, the dramatic influx in out-of-state patients will lead to longer wait times for people in those access states,’ Lockhart said.

Virginia currently allows abortions in the first and second trimesters. An abortion is allowed in the third trimester only if three doctors certify the mother’s mental or physical health is at serious risk.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, pushed for a 15-week ban during this year’s legislative session, but that was defeated by the narrow Democratic majority in the state Senate.

Victoria Cobb, president of the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia, said Wednesday that the state’s laws became out of step with its neighbors’ during years of ‘liberal influence.’

Virginians ‘are going to have to work to protect our Commonwealth from being exploited by the abortion industry,’ Cobb said.

The costs of travel for women who need to go outside their home states for abortions can quickly pile up, said Ashlyn Preaux, who helps run an abortion fund in South Carolina. Her organization helps patients pay for abortion care as well as gas cards and sometimes plane tickets.

If South Carolina enacts new restrictions, she expects to help send more patients to Virginia and Washington, D.C.

‘All of these things add up and it’s just not anything that people are prepared for,’ Preaux said. ‘It’s not really treated at all like it’s a health care issue.’

The South Carolina House vote capped nearly 24 hours of grueling debate split across two days as the Republican supermajority tossed or defeated over 900 Democratic amendments. Lawmakers paused for roughly eight hours early Wednesday only after a computer glitch.

Democrats repeatedly spoke for all three minutes allotted per amendment. One would have required that residents read ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ Another sought to make the state cover funeral costs for anyone who dies upon being denied an abortion.

Republican Rep. John McCravy urged colleagues to support ‘the only path forward to prevent our state from becoming an abortion destination state in the Southeast.’

Attention now turns to the Senate. Lawmakers could accept the House changes and send the measure to the governor who has indicated he would sign it. Or they could put the bill to a conference committee, where members from each chamber would have to work out their differences.

Until then, abortion remains legal through 22 weeks in South Carolina, and the state had already seen an increasing number of out-of-state patients before Florida and North Carolina enacted new restrictions. Farther west, women often travel to Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico or Colorado.

Provisional state health department data show South Carolina reported nearly 1,000 abortions in each of the first three months this year, after totaling just over 200 in the one full month that a previous six-week ban took effect last year. Nearly half of the patients reportedly came from other states.

Until Tuesday, North Carolina had been considered a safe space, said Dr. Erica Pettigrew, a family medicine doctor in Hillsborough. But now, ‘North Carolinians will be health care refugees to other states,’ she said, also criticizing provisions of the law for potentially creating more paperwork, along with additional medical and licensing requirements.

Another challenge to abortion access was considered Wednesday when a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the widely used abortion drug mifepristone should be overturned. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing a ruling by a federal judge in Texas who ordered a hold on approval of mifepristone, a decision that overruled two decades of scientific approval of the drug. That ruling was stayed while the appeal is pending.

Lawyers seeking to preserve access to the drug used in the most common method of abortion got pushback Wednesday from the appellate judges, who each have a history of supporting restrictions on abortion. A ruling is not expected immediately.

In Michigan, one of the leading states in protecting abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Wednesday that will prohibit companies from firing or otherwise retaliating against workers for having an abortion.

The legislation amends the state’s civil rights law, which had previously only outlawed employment discrimination if an abortion was to ‘save the life of the mother.’ It will ensure that workers cannot be treated differently for receiving an abortion regardless of reasoning.

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Alaska lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation that seeks to block state and local officials from closing gun stores during disasters declared by the governor, unless such closures apply to all other businesses.

The bill, HB61, is a response to business closures in Alaska and other states during the pandemic, according to a statement from House Speaker Cathy Tilton, a Wasilla Republican and the bill’s sponsor. Several other states have adopted similar bills.

The bill was one of the last debated by lawmakers in the waning days of the 121-day regular legislative session, which was set to end Wednesday. It was backed by the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association and criticized as a ‘special rights’ bill by state Sen. Jesse Kiehl, a Juneau Democrat.

The measure passed the Senate 17-3 on Tuesday and was returned to the House for a concurrence vote. The House agreed 28-12 to pass the bill late Wednesday.

Last year a federal appeals court panel ruled that two California counties had violated the constitutional right to keep and bear arms when in 2020 they closed gun and ammunition stores as nonessential businesses during the pandemic. Alaska state Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat, said HB61 aligns the state with that court decision.

For many residents in rural Alaska, ‘going to the ammo shop is essentially their way that they go and are able to … subsistence hunt and provide for their families,’ Wielechowski said.

The measure additionally states that in situations in which a governor has declared a disaster emergency, the governor, state agencies or municipalities cannot issue orders barring people from possessing or using guns or other weapons for personal use or issue orders that limit the sale of guns, ammunition or other weapons for personal use.

Prohibitions on gun possession would still apply to individuals who are otherwise restricted from having guns.

State law allows a governor to declare a disaster emergency if the governor finds a disaster has occurred or is ‘imminent or threatened.’ Disaster emergency proclamations are not to remain in effect for longer than 30 days unless extended by the legislature.

Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a series of public health disaster emergency declarations during the pandemic. A 2020 order by Anchorage’s then-mayor was cited by Tilton’s office as an example of a situation in which there were gun store or shooting range closures during an emergency declaration. The city had issued its own emergency proclamation.

Jan Caulfield, a volunteer from Juneau with the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, called the bill unnecessary. Lawmakers could have better used their time addressing issues such as high rates of gun deaths, she said.

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