Jehovah’s Witnesses Allow Blood-Derived Products but Keep Ban on Whole-Blood Transfusions
The revised guidance lets members choose some fractionated products while keeping the ban on whole-blood transfusions.
- On Friday, the Jehovah's Witnesses announced a policy update allowing members to receive medical treatments involving blood derivatives, including plasma, platelets, and red and white blood cells, while maintaining a prohibition against whole blood transfusions.
- The organization's longstanding opposition to transfusions stems from Bible passages requiring believers to "abstain" from blood, marking the second revision this year to one of the group's most distinctive religious teachings.
- Governing Body member Geoffrey W. Jackson stated "each Christian must make his own personal decision" regarding these components, and the update permits members to decide whether to donate blood for others' medical treatments.
- Critics, including former members, have long argued that the teaching led to preventable deaths; the organization reported a U.S. membership of 1.3 million in 2025, with a worldwide membership of 9.2 million.
- International spokesperson Paul Gillies emphasized that members should not make decisions on using blood products lightly, advising them to pray and study to reach a decision they feel "happy about with your God.
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Jehovah’s Witnesses allow blood-derived products but keep ban on whole-blood transfusions - Regional Media News
The Jehovah's Witnesses have partly eased their longstanding prohibition on the medical use of donated blood, allowing members to receive products derived from blood but maintaining a ban on transfusions of whole blood. The policy, announced Friday, is the second revision this year in what [...]
Jehovah’s Witnesses allow blood-derived products but keep ban on whole-blood transfusions – WTOP News
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have partly eased their longstanding prohibition on the medical use of donated blood, allowing members to receive products derived from blood but maintaining a ban on transfusions of whole blood. The policy, announced Friday, is the second revision this year in what has long been one of the most controversial and distinctive...
Jehovah's Witnesses allow blood-derived products but keep ban on
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have partly eased their longstanding prohibition on the medical use of donated blood, allowing members to receive products derived from blood but maintaining a ban on transfusions of whole blood. The policy, announced Friday,
Associated Press News
Jehovah’s Witnesses allow blood-derived products but keep ban on whole-blood transfusions
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have partly eased their ban on the medical use of donated blood. Members can now receive products derived from blood, but transfusions of whole blood remain prohibited.
Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian-based new religious movement whose doctrine has long prohibited the refusal of blood transfusions, have reportedly informed their followers worldwide on the 18th of their intention to partially lift the ban on transfusions of "other people's blood." FNN obtained and confirmed this through internal documents. The group had just recently lifted the ban on "autologous blood transfusion," where a person's own blood i…
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