The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has announced a major adjustment to its position on blood, allowing individual members to decide according to personal conscience whether to accept or donate four major blood components.
The organisation announced the change on Friday, September 18, 2026, in a statement issued from its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York.
Under the revised position, Jehovah’s Witnesses may personally decide whether to accept red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma or platelets obtained from another person’s blood.
The organisation also said each member must independently decide whether to donate blood when the stated purpose is to provide blood components or fractions for another person.
“The decision to accept red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets from another person’s blood is a matter of personal conscience,” the organisation stated.
However, Jehovah’s Witnesses stressed that the change does not extend to transfusions of whole blood. The organisation said its longstanding religious position against whole-blood transfusions remains unchanged, based on its interpretation of the Biblical command to “abstain from blood.”
The adjustment builds on previous changes concerning blood fractions and medical procedures involving a person’s own blood. According to the organisation, because the Bible does not specifically address decisions concerning the four primary components, individual members are responsible for making choices according to their conscience.
An international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, Paul Gillies, said the organisation continues to regard life and blood as sacred, while decisions involving the four components are now left to individual members.
The organisation further stated that local congregations would not interfere with members’ personal decisions concerning the acceptance or donation of the blood components.
Jehovah’s Witnesses also reaffirmed that they seek professional medical treatment and do not practise faith healing, while encouraging members to communicate their religious and personal wishes to healthcare professionals.
The organisation’s official medical information now reflects the new position, stating that each Witness patient personally decides whether to accept donor red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma or platelets, while the position against whole-blood transfusion remains in place.
