The Gainesville Care Center’s annual banquet fundraiser was packed with people who came to First Baptist Church Thursday night to support the ministry and hear the story of a former abortion clinic owner who changed her ways.

Executive Director Ann Gainey explained that 42 babies had been saved in 2009 through the Christian anti-abortion ministry.

“Forty-two people came in last year and thought abortion was going to be their best choice and they chose life,” Gainey said.

The center also boasted 104 people who had decided to become Christians as a result of their ministry.

Gainey showed the ultrasound pictures and names of the 42 babies. She ended the presentation with the ultrasound photo of her first grandchild — the future child of her adopted daughter.

“Thirty years ago in 1979, there was a scared young couple, somewhere in the country,” Gainey said. “They gave life. And now, 30 years later, she can give life. ... That’s powerful.”

Keynote speaker Lynn Everett shared how she went from owning lucrative abortion clinics in Texas to becoming a Christian and writing the book “Blood Money: Getting Rich Off a Woman’s Right to Choose.”

Everett said the goal in her clinics was to make money. She said the clinics would give girls low dose birth control pills that would not be effective and hand out cheap condoms that were likely to fail.

“I’m so sorry to tell you I held the hand of one woman while she had her ninth abortion,” Everett said.

In her business, telephone operators convinced women they were pregnant and needed to come in for an exam. Practitioners would show them a lump on an ultrasound and call it an embryo in order to sell them an abortion, even if they were not pregnant.

“We could put every man on this table and find him pregnant,” said Everett, pointing to how easy it is to portray lumps in the abdomen as embryos. “The sad thing is, my friend, we will never know how many women had abortions who weren’t pregnant.”

One day, a preacher spoke to Everett about leaving the abortion clinic. Soon after, a local news channel did an expose on how the clinics were performing “abortions” on women who were not pregnant.

“I knew I was not supposed to be in the abortion business,” Everett said.

Ever since, Everett has spoken out against abortion and supported facilities like Gainesville Care Center that offer “prevention, intervention and reconciliation” for women in unplanned pregnancies.

“They save lives, physically and eternally,” Everett said.