Without asking for any professional advice, is a description of a medicine written about in a novel I read true (I'd like to know)?

This what Wiki says on the subject.

It’s listed in my Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th. ed. as you said. Not in that exact detail, which is probably correct.

I’m not a physician or pharmacist, but that that seems correct. It is what I teach my students. I know it’s used on the Labor and Delivery unit to induce labor (I’ve had it myself) and given to induce abortion.

I have slight concern over “serious risks for the mother”. I am not aware of any maternal side-effects that are dangerous. Dangerous to a wanted pregnancy if taken before 38 weeks, but that is a fetal side effect, not maternal.

It is apparently also given for stomach ulcers (https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-6111/misoprostol-oral/details), so I would be surprised if it has “serious risks”. Again, I think they are talking about the fetus, not mother.