Whether it’s holding vigils, debating online or donating to charity, area residents are finding ways to make their voices heard after the slaying of Dr. George Tiller, whose Wichita clinic was one of only three in the nation to perform late-term abortions.

Many have begun making donations to organizations that support the right to abortion.

In an LJWorld.com poll of more than 1,900 readers, nearly half said they would consider making donations to abortion rights groups in Tiller’s name.

Janet Burton, vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said the regional office, based in Overland Park, had seen hundreds of donations from at least 25 different states since Tiller was gunned down in his church Sunday morning. She said many of those donations came with messages attached.

They “express sadness and shock,” Burton said. “People are reaching out and communicating, I think, in an effort to honor Dr. Tiller’s years of service and sacrifice … As people try to make sense out of a senseless act, it touches us deeply that they have reached out to us.”

Keri Sanburn Behre, who grew up in Wichita and is now a doctoral student at Kansas University, organized a candlelight vigil for Tiller. After doing some research, she also made a donation to Medical Students for Choice, an organization that works to persuade medical schools to incorporate an abortion topic into their reproductive health services curriculum.

“I wanted to donate to an organization that I don’t ordinarily give money to, just to sort of honor Dr. Tiller and his work,” Behre said. “And one of the major issues on everybody’s mind since (Sunday) morning is who’s going to be there to fill Dr. Tiller’s shoes?”

Because Tiller was known nationwide, many national organizations have also set up memorial funds.

The National Network of Abortion Funds, which helps women in low-income situations pay for abortion services, created the Dr. George Tiller Memorial Fund after an outpouring of requests over Internet blogs and chat rooms.

Megan Peterson, deputy director for the NNAF, said that within about 20 hours of its creation the fund had received more than 80 donations ranging from $10 to $500 from donors across the country.