A group called Women Help Women launched a website Thursday to help American women have home abortions. The site gives information on using abortion pills and tips for avoiding legal problems.

The Netherlands-based organization has similar initiatives in several nations. But its leaders are especially concerned with U.S. women’s ability to get abortions, The Washington Post reported.

The “current administration and restrictions” cause “a lot of fear and worry,” said The group’s director, Kinga Jelinksa.

The Abortion Pill

The website (Abortionpillinfo.org) provides information on mifepristone and misoprostol. The two drugs taken together (or the second by itself) can induce early abortions. The FDA-approved drug, known as the “abortion pill,” is usually prescribed by a doctor. In most states, it is illegal to buy the pills over the counter. Many require a physician be present during the resulting abortion.

The restrictions can lead women to buy the pills illegally online or in Mexico, the Post reported.

World magazine reported in February that some doctors want the medication in pharmacies. Advocates say the process has minimal complications when done right. Pro-life advocates insist the drugs are dangerous for women, especially unsupervised.

The pills work by inducing miscarriage. The process involves heavy bleeding, abdominal pain and sometimes other symptoms like vomiting. The bleeding can last for weeks.

“They are acting as though it is insignificant that you go home and then have this horrific thing happen to you,” Kristi Hamrick told World. A spokeswoman for Americans United for Life, she pointed out that if a woman faints from heavy bleeding, there may be no one around to call 911.

World reported that 19 women have died after using mifepristone since the FDA approved it in 2000. Hundreds more went into the hospital. The FDA claims it’s unclear the pill actually caused some the deaths.

The Website

Women Help Women insists it doesn’t encourage women to have at-home abortions. Its 23 staff (the Post reports 25) answer questions online through protected messages if a woman has decided to take the pills. Women Help Women consultant Susan Yanow — founding director of the Abortion Access Project — said in Cosmopolitian that the site relies on information from the World Health Organization. It also provides information about abortion facilities and grants near the woman.

But a significant amount of information on the pills instantly appears at Abortionpillinfo.org. The information includes how to take the pills and where to get them. (The site lists Mexico, websites and veterinarian supply shops as potential places to buy the pill.)

The question and answer section tells women to seek medical help in emergencies. It also tells them how to skirt arrest: “If a woman seeks medical attention, she does not have to say she used medicines,” it notes.

The person seeking medical attention can say she is having a miscarriage. The symptoms and treatment for complications of a miscarriage are the same. … There are currently no tests that can identify the medicines in the woman’s blood or urine. There is no way that the doctor can know she has taken medicines unless the patient discloses or has the pills on or in their body.

Dangerous and Deadly

The Post cited three recent instances of women arrested for at-home abortions. Yanow admitted to Cosmopolitan that more women could get arrested by attempting at-home abortions. That doesn’t deter Women Help Women.

A woman is “less likely to say something that puts her at legal risk” if she understands the pill works like a natural miscarriage, Yanow said.

“These drugs are dangerous,” Hamrick said, according to the Post. “They are deadly. If they are mishandled, they result in serious injury.”