At the end of the first trimester of a woman's pregnancy, the baby has distinguished arms, legs and a head.
Features have started to form - ears, eyes and a nose, as well as individual fingers.
These physical characteristics are illustrated with tiny, plastic figures passed out Wednesday by MSU Students for Life outside of Bessey Hall in opposition to abortion.
At least 50 of the 11-week-old prenatal baby models were distributed. They were created to match the two-and-a-half to three inch size of actual embryos at that stage of development.
"It shows people that they really are a formed human and not just a blob of tissue," said Molly Pappas, a political theory and constitutional democracy junior and member of Students for Life.
The prenatal babies were part of a recruitment drive activity Students for Life held during their designated Respect Life Week, an MSU extension of Respect Life Sunday, which was Oct. 3.
"We wanted to dedicate a whole week to educate the campus about the tragedy of abortion, raise funds and recruit members to our group," said graduate student Katie Wilcox, president of Students for Life.
She said the week was intended to be a peaceful demonstration of their anti-abortion views, but at about 2:40 p.m. when members were closing the recruitment table, a male student who was signing up for membership was accosted.
At least six people were allegedly involved in the incident - at least five of whom were female.
Wilcox said recruitment members told her the attackers yelled at the men in the group, including the new recruit, for being male and intervening in a women's issue.
Two of the attackers pushed the student over the recruitment table, causing it to collapse, Wilcox said.
"We have the right to function just like any other student organization on campus and exercise our freedom of speech and we're not going to let them take that away from us," she said.
Despite the incident, Students for Life will protest abortion 11 a.m-1 p.m. today on the bridge outside of Wells Hall.
"Abortion affects everyone," Wilcox said.
"It affects us all in some way, whether we've lost a sister or a cousin or a potential friend or husband."
Students for Life members are also collecting money to donate to Pregnancy Services of Greater Lansing Abortion Alternatives, 1045 E. Grand River Ave., which provides financial and emotional support for pregnant women.
"There seems to be a lack of support for pregnant women in our society and we want to do everything we can to give them options," Wilcox said.
Several blocks away from Students for Life, speaking out for contraception and the pro-choice viewpoint, were participants of MARAL Pro-Choice Michigan - a group that financially supports pro-choice candidates.
Three students stood outside Wells Hall handing out literature about contraception, distributing condoms and asking people to sign a contraceptive equity petition.
The petition is to encourage state congressmen to pass state Senate bills 470 and 471, which would require insurance agencies to provide coverage for contraception prescriptions.
Social relations senior Jennie Gies, a member of MARAL and MSU's Students for Choice, said contraceptive equity was their main concern for the day.
The Students for Choice campus organization was not involved in handing out pamphlets.
Women pay 68 percent more than men for health care from disposable income, a cost which often includes contraceptives that are not covered by insurance companies, Gies said.
