Roseanne Sheridan has sent a petition with more than 300 signatures, gathered in little more than a week, to Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean, who will pass it to Minister of Justice Amy Adams for her consideration.
The first frozen embryos are scheduled to be destroyed from today.
She calls the embryos ''snowflake babies''. Unless there was intervention, their lives would be ended today.
''If they are destroyed, then I hope they will not be treated as material and put in the rubbish, but be given a proper burial.''
She is also worried they are not protected under New Zealand law from scientific experimentation.
The Human Assisted Reproductive Technology (Hart) Act, passed in 2004, prohibits frozen embryos being kept longer than 10 years without ethical approval.
Some families have only recently found out their embryos held by Hart clinics will be destroyed.
Only intervention by the minister of justice can stop the destruction.
The petition asks Ms Adams to intervene ''to save these tiny lives from destruction, protect them from scientific experimentation and assist parents in finding a way to give them a chance at life''.
''Snowflake babies'' not only referred to the frozen embryos, but also that, like snowflakes, no two were the same, she said.
Apart from stopping the destruction of the embryos, Mrs Sheridan wants the ministry to ensure all parents were contacted before any decisions were made and the opportunity was given to have them adopted.
Mrs Sheridan said she only found out about the situation recently, and while she accepted the petition was at a late stage, ''in my conscience, I could not leave it and do nothing''.
''These are the lives of 2000 little people.''
Many people she talked to had not heard what was to happen and were ''absolutely shocked''.
Some who signed the petition were in favour of the in-vitro fertilisation programme, others were opposed. But all opposed the destruction of the embryos.
Mrs Sheridan had some responses from the Government about the petition, but they generally reinforced what was in the Act, pointing out an application could be made by parents to extend the 10-year restriction on destruction.
Even yesterday afternoon, she was still communicating with Government in an attempt to at least stop the destruction while further investigations and consultation took place.
The online petition can be signed through GoPetition by searching ''save-the-snowflake-babies''.
