Seven week old embryo. 94% of all surgical abortions happen at this point or later.

Abortion Facts and Statistics

One common myth about abortion is that the majority of abortions take place very early in pregnancy and that the embryos and fetuses these abortions terminate are very undeveloped. According to the Center for Disease Control cited in the MMWR, Nov.29, 2002 vol51 No55-9:

58% of all abortions take place in the first 8 weeks
42% at nine weeks or later.

Of these

16% less than or equal to 6 weeks
17% 7 weeks
21% eight weeks
64% Beyond 9 weeks
The remaining 4% may have been lost in estimating the numbers or may be a margin of error.

Some information and milestones of fetal development.

Day 1 - conception takes place.
7 days - tiny human implants in mother’s uterus.
10 days - mother’s menses stop.
18 days - heart begins to beat.
21 days - pumps own blood through separate closed circulatory system with own blood type.
28 days - eye, ear and respiratory system begin to form.
42 days - brain waves recorded, skeleton complete, reflexes present.
8 weeks - all body systems present.
9 weeks - squints, swallows, moves tongue, makes fist.
11 weeks - spontaneous breathing movements, has fingernails, all body systems working.
12 weeks - weighs one ounce.
16 weeks - genital organs clearly differentiated, grasps with hands, swims, kicks, turns, somersaults, (still not felt by the mother.)
18 weeks - vocal cords work – can cry.
20 weeks - has hair on head, weighs one pound, 12 inches long.
23 weeks - 15% chance of viability outside of womb if birth premature.*
24 weeks - 56% of babies survive premature birth.*
25 weeks - 79% of babies survive premature birth.*

(*Source: M. Allen et. al., "The Limits of Viability." New England Journal of Medicine. 11/25/93: Vol. 329, No. 22, p. 1597.)