Jehovah’s Witnesses have revised their stance on blood transfusions, permitting members to have their own blood withdrawn, stored, and reintroduced during medical procedures. This adjustment allows adherents to undergo transfusions of their own blood in planned surgeries, while the ban on receiving blood from others remains in place.
Announcing the change, Governing Body member Gerrit Lösch emphasised personal choice: “Each Christian must decide for himself how his blood will be used in medical and surgical care.” Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian movement widely recognised for door-to-door evangelism, report around 144,000 active members in the UK and nine million worldwide. Historically, the group prohibited transfusions altogether, citing biblical commands to “abstain from blood.” A spokesperson reaffirmed this principle, stating: “Our core belief regarding the sanctity of blood remains unchanged.”
Some former members have criticised the move, saying it “doesn’t go far enough”. Mitch Melon told the LA Times: “If one of Jehovah’s Witnesses faces a medical emergency with significant blood loss, or if a child requires multiple transfusions to treat certain types of cancers, this policy change does not grant them complete freedom of conscience to accept potentially life-saving interventions involving donated blood”.
In December last year, an Edinburgh court ruled doctors would be able to give a blood transfusion to a teenage Jehovah’s Witness if she needed one following an operation. The 14-year-old girl told medics she did not consent to a transfusion because of her religious beliefs, but lawyers for a Scottish health board sought an order to allow the procedure to go ahead if the girl’s life was at risk. The order was granted, as Judge Lady Tait said she was satisfied it was in the child’s best interests, “giving appropriate weight to her views”.
Source: BBC
