Housewife, mother, nurse, family planning advocate, and lobbyist Beatrice Kabler was born in Oklahoma in 1928 and raised in that state. She attended Oklahoma College for Women (1945-1946) and Oklahoma State University (1946-1947) and received a nursing degree from the University of Kansas in 1950. While a student there, she met J.D. Kabler, a medical student. They were married in 1950 and shortly thereafter moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where Kabler was an intern at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Mrs. Kabler pursued her career in nursing. While Kabler in the Navy (1952-1953), Mrs. Kabler worked as a maternity nurse at Norfolk General Hospital in Virginia. In 1954 the Kablers returned to Madison where they settled permanently.
During the late 1950's and 1960's Mrs. Kabler became the mother of five children, yet in addition she was also involved in a host of civic organizations and was an active member of the Republican Party. She also served as chairman of the Social Education and Action Committee of the Covenant Presbyterian Church. Through this involvement she learned to express her concerns on race relations and other social issues.
In May, 1966, Kabler and her neighbor Marylu Raushenbush were among a small group of citizens concerned about the family planning situation in Dane County. Their concern arose largely from provisions of the Wisconsin statutes, one of the most restrictive such laws in the nation, which defined contraceptive devices as “indecent articles” and prohibited their sale or distribution to unmarried persons. Although the law was widely disregarded, its provisions made it impossible for social workers to help those most in need of family planning--young people and AFDC mothers.
Shortly thereafter, Kabler and Raushenbush formed a statewide organization, Wisconsin Citizens for Family Planning, in order to change the law and to educate the public about the importance of a positive family planning policy for the state. The WCFP's concern for family planning reflected contemporary concerns for world overpopulation, pollution, the tragedy of unwanted children, the relation between large families and poverty and the cost of welfare programs. Significantly, little of the literature which WCFP distributed discussed birth control as a women's issue.
Marylu Raushenbush was elected first chairman of the group, with Beatrice Kabler serving as vice-chair. In 1968 Kabler was elected chairman. Under their leadership, Wisconsin Citizens for Family Planning attempted a number of strategies in order to effect a change in the legislation. Although Wisconsin Citizens for Family Planning was never a large organization, its lobbying effectiveness was widely acknowledged.
Their first attempt was a bill introduced into the 1967 legislature which they drafted. When the bill was blocked primarily due to opposition from the Catholic Church, WCFP managed to have the issue referred to a special family planning committee of the Legislative Council. In 1969 the bill supported by WCFP was introduced as a minority report of the advisory committee, but it again met stiff opposition not only from individual Catholics but also from several conservative political organizations. Similar opposition continued to block WCFP's lobbying efforts in subsequent legislatures.
In 1974 a three-judge federal panel ruled that the Wisconsin law was unconstitutional. However, the attorney general ruled that a changed policy required new legislation. This was finally accomplished in 1976.
As the chief lobbyist for WCFP Beatrice Kabler found herself increasingly interested in elective office. After the victory on the family planning issue she continued to be active in politics, eventually winning election to the Dane County Board of Supervisors. She also continued to be active in Planned Parenthood and served on a number of family planning committees in Wisconsin.
