Jehovah’s Witnesses make major U-turn on blood transfusion policy

The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has announced an adjustment to its policy on blood transfusions, allowing members to decide, based on personal conscience, whether to accept or donate the four main components of blood.

The organisation disclosed this in a statement issued by its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York, and published on its official website on Friday.

According to the statement, members can now individually decide whether to accept red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma or platelets from another person’s blood.

“The decision to accept red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets from another person’s blood is a matter of personal conscience,” the organisation said.

It added that each witness must also decide whether to donate blood specifically for the purpose of providing components or fractions for another person’s medical treatment.

However, the organisation said its longstanding position against whole-blood transfusions remained unchanged.

Paul Gillies, international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses at the organisation’s World Headquarters, said the decision regarding blood components was a matter of individual conscience.