Jehovah’s Witnesses have announced an adjustment to their policy on blood transfusions, allowing members to decide based on personal conscience whether to accept or donate the four main components of blood.
The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses disclosed the change in a statement issued by its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York, and published on its website on Friday.
According to the statement, “the decision to accept red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets from another person’s blood is a matter of personal conscience.”
It added that “each Witness must decide whether or not to donate blood for the clearly expressed purpose of providing components or fractions for use by another person.”
However, the organisation stressed that its longstanding position against whole-blood transfusions remains unchanged.
“The long-standing refusal of whole-blood transfusions on religious grounds, a core teaching based on the command to ‘abstain from blood’ (Acts 15:20), is unchanged,” the statement said.
Paul Gillies, international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses at the organisation’s World Headquarters, said the group continues to regard blood as sacred.
“Blood remains sacred to Jehovah’s Witnesses, who continue to regard life and blood as precious gifts from God.
“We recognise that medical decisions involving blood components are a matter of conscience between each Witness and their God, Jehovah.”
The organisation said the latest adjustment “follows earlier updates regarding blood fractions and the use of one’s own blood during medical procedures.”
It added, “Since the Bible does not comment on such decisions, they are a matter of individual conscience. That same reasoning has now been extended to the four main components of blood.”
On medical treatment, the organisation said its members seek professional healthcare while maintaining their religious convictions.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses love life and want the best available medical care. They do not practise faith healing, and they seek out doctors who can provide effective treatment in accord with their wishes, values and beliefs.”
Gillies said individual congregations would not intervene in members’ personal decisions concerning blood components.
“Congregations do not involve themselves in personal decisions that rest with the individual conscience. We will continue to respect and support the personal decisions of our fellow believers.
“We are grateful, too, for the many skilled and compassionate physicians who provide quality medical care that respects our personal wishes regarding blood,” he said.
The organisation said Jehovah’s Witnesses number “over nine million worldwide, in congregations across more than 200 lands.”
The latest announcement follows a clarification issued by the religious group in March concerning the use of a member’s own blood during surgery and other medical procedures.
That clarification allowed individual Witnesses to decide whether their blood could be removed, stored and returned to them during medical treatment, while the organisation retained its position against receiving blood from another person.
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