NEWS
Jehovah’s Witnesses Change Position On Four Major Blood Components, Leave Whole-Blood Transfusion Ban Unchanged
The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has announced a significant clarification to its position on blood, giving individual members the freedom to decide, according to personal conscience, whether to accept or donate the four main components of blood.
The organisation disclosed the development in a statement issued by its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York, and published on its official website on Friday.
Under the new position, Jehovah’s Witnesses may personally determine whether to accept red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma or platelets from another person, with the organisation emphasising that such decisions are matters of individual conscience.
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.”
The organisation also clarified that individual members are free to make their own decisions about donating blood for the purpose of providing components or fractions that could subsequently be used in another person’s medical treatment.
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.”
Despite the latest adjustment, Jehovah’s Witnesses stressed that their longstanding position against receiving whole blood through transfusion 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.
The development represents another clarification in the organisation’s longstanding teachings on medical treatment involving blood. The group has historically maintained that its members should abstain from blood on religious grounds, while allowing individual conscience to guide decisions concerning certain blood fractions and medical procedures involving a person’s own blood.
International spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses at the organisation’s World Headquarters, Paul Gillies, explained that the religious significance attached to blood remains unchanged despite the latest clarification.
“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 builds on previous updates concerning blood fractions and the handling of an individual’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.”
The four components identified by the organisation are red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma and platelets. Under the clarified position, decisions involving these components are no longer presented as matters requiring a uniform decision by all members, but rather as issues each individual Witness must consider according to personal conscience.
The religious organisation also used the announcement to reaffirm its position on medical treatment generally, stressing that Jehovah’s Witnesses seek conventional medical care rather than faith healing.
On medical care, the statement said, “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 further stated that local congregations would not interfere with decisions that the organisation considers matters of individual conscience.
“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 an earlier clarification concerning the use of a member’s own blood during surgery and other medical procedures.
That earlier position allowed individual Witnesses to determine whether blood removed from their own bodies could be stored and subsequently returned to them during medical treatment, while the organisation maintained its position against receiving blood from another person.
With the latest clarification, the organisation has now extended the principle of individual conscience to decisions involving the acceptance or donation of the four major components of blood, while maintaining its established prohibition against whole-blood transfusions.