WICHITA, Kan. - Not long ago, Dr. Mila Means, the physician trying to open an abortion clinic in this city, received a letter advising her to check under her car each morning - “because maybe today is the day someone places an explosive under it,’’ the note said.

There was reason for concern: the last doctor to provide abortions here was shot to death because of his work. But rather than lower her profile, Means raised it by buying a car that nobody could miss: a bright-yellow Mini Cooper, emblazoned, appropriately enough, with lightning bolts.

“It’s partly an in-your-face response,’’ she explained. “You’re looking for me. I’m here.’’

Two years have passed since this city, for decades the volatile epicenter of the national fight over abortion, was shaken by the killing of Dr. George R. Tiller - a controversial figure because of his willingness to perform later-term abortions - by a man who said he wanted to stop the killing of babies.

Since then, abortion rights advocates have hoped that someone would take Tiller’s place to show that violence is not an effective way to stop abortions.

Despite their vows to redouble their commitment, the killing of Tiller actually scared people away. Opponents, even those who criticized the killing, have noted with some satisfaction that no abortions have been provided here since.

Now a little-known physician has stepped into this tinderbox environment to take the mantle - indeed, the very instruments - of the man many abortion rights advocates regard as a martyr.

But Means is certainly not the ideological warrior many expected to fill his void. She said her decision to start performing abortions was as much about making money for her struggling practice as about restoring access to a constitutional right.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, based in Wichita, said that abortion opponents were committed to blocking another clinic here and that the level of protest facing anyone who participated in such efforts would be “beyond anything anyone could imagine.’’

The efforts to open new clinics face considerable obstacles. After enacting numerous antiabortion measures this year, the state recently denied licenses to two of the three remaining clinics in Kansas, down from 15 two decades ago. (A court has allowed the clinics to continue operating pending the outcome of a legal challenge.)

“It would have been difficult for Dr. Means to provide abortion care in Wichita, period,’’ said Peter B. Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which dropped plans to open an abortion clinic here after failing to find a local doctor willing to endure the expected harassment. “Now it’s doubly difficult.’’

But Means decided last summer that she had little choice but to try. She looked at the finances of her solo family practice and figured she might be the poorest doctor in the state.

Means bought much of Tiller’s medical equipment and office furniture for $20,000. Her goal was to continue her family practice and start performing abortions of fetuses up to 15 weeks.

Means found a clinic in Kansas City, Kan., that taught her, free of charge, how to perform abortions, an arrangement that emerged out of a shared belief that Wichita should have an abortion provider.

Means’s work in Kansas City ended abruptly last month, after she had performed about 50 abortions, half her training goal, when the clinic shifted its focus to trying to stay open under the new state regulations that dictate requirements for the size of rooms at abortion clinics, the stocking of emergency equipment, medications and blood supplies, and ties to hospitals.

Even before those restrictions, there had been an obstacle: Her landlord had taken her to court to block her from performing abortions in her offices and she had been unable to find anyone willing to rent space to her. Buying or building a facility would cost as much as $1 million; she is setting up a nonprofit organization to raise money.

Means says she will persist. She is already receiving calls from women seeking abortions.

© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.