Q: At what gestational age are most abortions performed?

• Half of all abortions in the U.S. are performed at or before 8 weeks LMP (last menstrual period). Modern technology can detect a baby's heartbeat eighteen days after conception. Six weeks from conception, signals from the fetal brain can be detected, and the baby moves spontaneously.

• Thirty-nine percent of abortions are performed on babies between 9 and 12 weeks from a woman's last menstrual period, for a total of 89 percent performed by the end of the first trimester, when the baby is six to ten weeks along. A baby at this stage can respond to touch and sound.

• In 1987, 90,700 (six percent) were done between 13 and 15 weeks LMP, 55,910 were performed on babies 16-20 weeks LMP, and 9,030 babies of 21 weeks LMP or more were killed by abortion. By about the 14th seek, a baby's lungs are functioning and he or she practices "breathing" amniotic fluid. Vocal cords are formed by the thirteenth week, and except for a lack of air, the baby could be heard to cry.

Statistical source: Family Planning Perspectives 23:75, March/April 1991