The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has announced an adjustment to its policy on blood, allowing members to make personal decisions about whether to accept or donate the four main components of blood.
The organisation made the announcement in a statement issued by its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York, and published on its website on Friday.
Under the revised position, individual members can decide, according to their personal conscience, whether to accept red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma or platelets from another person.
Members can also decide whether to donate blood specifically for the purpose of providing blood components or fractions for another person.
However, Jehovah’s Witnesses stressed that its longstanding position against the transfusion of whole blood remains unchanged.
The organisation said its position is based on the biblical instruction to “abstain from blood”, citing Acts 15:20.
Paul Gillies, an international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses at the organisation’s World Headquarters, said the group continues to regard blood and life as sacred.
He explained that medical decisions involving blood components are
considered matters of personal conscience between individual Witnesses and their God, Jehovah.According to the organisation, the latest adjustment follows previous clarifications concerning blood fractions and the use of a person’s own blood during medical procedures.
It said that because the Bible does not specifically address decisions concerning the four main blood components, members should make such choices according to their individual conscience.
The organisation also reiterated that Jehovah’s Witnesses seek medical treatment and do not practise faith healing.
Gillies said local congregations would not interfere with members’ personal medical decisions, adding that individual choices would continue to be respected and supported.
The latest announcement follows an earlier clarification 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 treatment.
Jehovah’s Witnesses said the organisation has more than nine million members worldwide, with congregations across more than 200 countries and territories.
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