Monrovia-The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has announced a major adjustment to its longstanding position on blood, allowing individual members to decide whether to accept or donate the four main components of blood.
The announcement made last Friday from the group’s World Headquarters in Warwick, New York brings to an end a policy that spans decades and blamed for the loss of members of the assembly.
Under the revised policy, the decision to accept red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets from another person’s blood is now a matter of personal conscience.
As per the changes, each Witness must decide whether to donate blood for the clearly expressed purpose of providing components or fractions for use by another person.
The organization stressed that its core teaching remains unchanged, which is the refusal of whole-blood transfusions on religious grounds, based on the Bible’s command to “abstain from blood” (Acts 15:20), is unchanged.
“Blood remains sacred to Jehovah’s Witnesses, who continue to regard life and blood as precious gifts from God,” said Paul Gillies, international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “We recognize that medical decisions involving blood components are a matter of conscience between each Witness and their God, Jehovah.”
The September announcement follows an earlier update in March 2026, when the Governing Body clarified that the use of one’s own blood, drawn, stored and returned during a medical procedure, had become a conscience matter.
Previously, members were taught not to donate or store their own blood prior to surgery.
Taken together, the two changes substantially alter treatment choices for Witness patients.
Advocacy groups note that being a Jehovah’s Witness no longer tells a clinician whether a patient will accept or refuse red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets – those choices must now be established individually.
In a video announcement, Governing Body member Geoffrey W. Jackson said: “Each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care.”
The organization said congregations will not involve themselves in personal decisions that rest with individual conscience and will respect members’ choices.
Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to reject whole-blood transfusions, and the new policy also maintains that members cannot donate whole blood for transfusion.
The faith, which numbers over nine million worldwide in more than 200 lands, has long sought medical care that respects its values while encouraging members to seek doctors who can provide effective alternative treatment.
Medical experts note the practical significance is large: in modern hospitals, most transfusions use components rather than whole blood. Plasma is often used for trauma, red cells for anemia, white cells for certain infections, and platelets for cancer treatments. Whole blood is mainly used in cases of massive blood loss, such as major accidents or certain heart surgeries.
Critics and reform groups have welcomed the trajectory of the changes while noting that emergency situations requiring whole blood remain prohibited.
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