The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has announced that members may now decide, according to their 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 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.”
The organisation, however, said its position on whole-blood transfusions remained 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, an international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses at the organisation’s World Headquarters, said the decision did not alter the group’s view of the significance of blood.
“Blood remains sacred to Jehovah’s Witnesses, who continue to regard life and blood as precious gifts from God,” Gillies said.
“We recognise that medical decisions involving blood components are a matter of conscience between each Witness and their God, Jehovah.”
The organisation said the change “follows earlier updates regarding blood fractions and the use of one’s own blood during medical procedures.”
It explained that because the Bible does not specifically address such decisions, they are left to individual conscience.
“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 statement said.
On medical treatment, the organisation 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,” it said.
Gillies said local congregations would not interfere in members’ personal decisions regarding 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,” he said.
“We are grateful, too, for the many skilled and compassionate physicians who provide quality medical care that respects our personal wishes regarding blood.”
The organisation said Jehovah’s Witnesses number “over nine million worldwide, in congregations across more than 200 lands.”
