Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, has slammed religious groups for criticizing a bid to bring birth control methods to the developing world.

Campaigners have said that the religious groups who want to thwart the drive are carrying out a ‘war on women’, The Daily Mail reports.

Melinda Gates is spearheading a mission to bring birth control methods to countries where it is lacking.
Ahead of a conference on family planning being held in London this week, religious groups, have attacked Melinda Gates calling her campaign a ‘blatant attack on morality’.he conference, which is co-hosted by the Department for International Development (Dfid) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to raise money and awareness to bring contraception to millions in the developing world.

In response to the religious backlash, Gates said the lack of birth control available to 210 million people in the world was ‘a crime’.

Her view is supported by the UK’s minister for international development Andrew Mitchell who said bringing birth control to the less developed parts of the world made economic sense.

Mitchell said if the campaign was successful it would mean 100 million fewer unintended pregnancies, 200,000 lives saved and 50 million abortions averted.

Campaigners are eager to ensure that anyone offering funds for the charity is aware that the money will go to purchasing pills as well as education.

According the international development charity, EveryChild, pregnancy-related deaths are the major cause of mortality for 15-to-19 year-old girls and those who give birth under 15 are five times more likely to die than women over 20.