In another installment in NPR’s summer-long series “Beginnings,” NPR’s All Things Considered aired a story on Wednesday examining how the controversial drug misoprostol is being used worldwide to save women’s lives.

“Originally developed to prevent gastric ulcers, it’s also been shown to prevent excessive bleeding after childbirth. That’s the leading cause of maternal death in the developing world. It’s estimated that one woman dies from postpartum hemorrhage every seven minutes. The controversy comes because misoprostol, or miso, can also be used to induce abortion. So in places like Mozambique in southeastern Africa, it carries both promise, and risk,” the show reports (Block, 6/29).