About 600 women in the US have obtained abortion pills through Aid Access, a website that launched quietly six months ago, aiming to help women who cannot easily access abortion.

The founder of both sites, Dutch doctor Rebecca Gomperts, said Aid Access was created in response to an increase in American women requesting help from a similar European website, Women on Web, in the past year.

“I decided that as a doctor I have a moral obligation to help women that are in need of a very safe medical procedure,” Gomperts told the Guardian.

Women’s health advocates in the US are concerned by the Trump administration’s efforts to further restrict access to abortion. These fears intensified when Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the supreme court. In his Senate confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh declined to say how he would rule if the court was to consider the legality of abortion.

Aid Access allows women to request the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol after an online consultation with a doctor. If the doctor decides it would be safe for the woman to use the pills, a payment of $95 is suggested. The fee can be waived.

It appears to be the only site of its kind offering this service in the US. Women on Web has helped American soldiers deployed in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In April, a small study of 18 online pharmacies found it was “feasible” to obtain abortion pills in the US without a prescription.

Aid Access, which is available in English and Spanish, is different from such sites because women must consult a doctor to get a prescription. The price is also lower than that typically offered by online pharmacies.

Gomperts writes the prescriptions, which are sent to a pharmacy in India, which sends the pills to the US. Women are welcome to contact Gomperts for further medical advice.

The pills are only meant for women 10 weeks pregnant or less. A May 2017 study of 1,000 women who were less than 10 weeks pregnant and used abortion pills at home showed 95% safely ended their pregnancy without surgical intervention.

Gomperts shared with the Guardian anonymized emails from users of the service. One woman said that without Aid Access she would have “had no other choice than to take extremely dangerous actions to get the same result”.

Access to medical abortion is different in each of the 50 states, but in general it reflects tight legal restrictions for surgical abortions. In 27 states, women must receive counseling before either kind of abortion.

Only certified providers can dispense abortion pills. In 21 states, including Texas, Arizona and Tennessee, a doctor must be physically present during the procedure. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does, however, allow women to take the pills after leaving a clinic.

The FDA said on Sunday that distribution restrictions had been in place for these drugs since 2000 as part of its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (Rems) program. “The agency takes the allegations related to the sale of mifepristone in the US through online distribution channels very seriously and is evaluating the allegations to assess potential violations of US law,” the agency said in a statement.

In Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and New York, a program is being assessed that would send abortion pills by mail overnight, after a video consultation with a doctor. Programs in Iowa, Alaska, Minnesota and Maine allow women to have a telemedicine doctor’s appointment to get a medication abortion prescription, though women must then travel to a clinic to obtain and use the pills.

Aid Access makes clear in its terms of service that the group is not liable for any legal consequences women face for using the service.

Anti-abortion groups are of course opposed to such services. Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, recently told the Atlantic: “Handing out deadly drugs through the mail is a disaster waiting to happen.”

She added: “The pro-life movement will absolutely be committed to preventing this dangerous business from harming American women.”

Gomperts said that if groups oppose Aid Access’s efforts, they should work to improve access to abortion.

“I don’t think this service should be necessary in the first place,” she said.