The Jehovah's Witnesses have relaxed part of their ban on donated blood, permitting members to accept blood-derived medical products while maintaining a prohibition on whole-blood transfusions. The update, the second policy revision this year, allows individuals to choose whether to accept treatments that use plasma, platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells, and to donate blood for processing into products. Critics say the group’s long-standing restriction on transfusions has led to preventable deaths; the change refocuses debate on conscience, medicine and religious teaching.
Jehovah’s Witnesses Ease Blood Ban — Members May Accept Blood-Derived Products, Whole-Blood Transfusions Still Forbidden
FILE - A woman shares Jehovah's Witnesses' literature with a passerby in downtown Pittsburgh on Nov. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Smith, File)
The Jehovah's Witnesses have revised their long-standing prohibition on the medical use of donated blood, now allowing members to accept medical products derived from donated blood while continuing to forbid transfusions of whole blood.
What Changed
The Governing Body announced the policy change on Friday — the second adjustment this year to the denomination's guidance on blood. The new guidance states that individuals may choose to receive medical treatments that use the four primary components of whole blood: plasma, platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells. Members are also permitted, as a matter of individual conscience, to donate blood that will be processed into blood-derived products for other patients.
What Remains Prohibited
The organization still opposes members receiving transfusions of whole blood and forbids donating blood specifically for the purpose of whole-blood transfusion. Earlier this year, in March, the Governing Body issued a separate revision allowing members to have their own blood stored for their future personal medical use, but not for use by others.
Voices From the Organization
"Each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care," said Geoffrey W. Jackson, a member of the Governing Body based in New York State.
Paul Gillies, international spokesperson for Jehovah's Witnesses, emphasized that members should treat the decision seriously: "You have to pray about it, you have to study it, you have to see what the Bible has to say about it, because blood in the Bible represents life."
Medical Context
Separated blood components are commonly used for targeted clinical needs: plasma (the liquid portion) is often given after severe trauma or for certain conditions, red blood cells treat anemia and blood loss, platelets support some cancer and surgical care, and white blood cell transfusions are rarely used in routine practice. The American Red Cross and medical specialists generally use component therapy to address specific clinical problems rather than transfusing whole blood in many settings.
Criticism and Debate
Critics and some former members say the ban on whole-blood transfusions has led to preventable deaths by denying an established lifesaving therapy in cases of severe bleeding. The change has reignited debate over religious freedom, patient autonomy and medical best practices.
Background
Jehovah's Witnesses base their policy on biblical passages that instruct believers to "abstain" from blood. Unlike many other religious traditions that treat such passages primarily as dietary restrictions, the denomination has historically extended the prohibition to transfusions. Jehovah's Witnesses originated in 19th-century America and reported a U.S. membership of about 1.3 million in 2025, with roughly 9.2 million members worldwide in more than 200 countries and territories.
Associated Press reporting contributed to this article.
Help us improve.
