By DADA AYOKHAI.
The recent decision of the Governing Council of Jehovah’s Witnesses to relax its religious policy regarding blood transfusion has generated reactions from both adherents and non-members.
The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses on Friday, September 18, 2026, announced an adjustment to its longstanding position on blood, allowing members to decide according to personal conscience whether to accept or donate the four main components of blood.
Reacting to the latest development, some respondents said the relaxed policy came too late, considering many lives lost over strict adherence to the former policy, while others commended the religious body for the amendment, saying it would save present and future souls.
The organisation disclosed this in a statement issued by its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York, and published on its official website.
According to the statement, “the decision to accept red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets from another person’s blood is a matter of personal conscience”. a187
It added that “each Witness must decide whether or not to donate blood for the clearly expressed purpose of providing components or fractions for use by another person”. a187
The organisation, however, clarified that its long-standing refusal of whole-blood transfusions remains unchanged.
“The long-standing refusal of whole-blood transfusions on religious grounds, a core teaching based on the command to ‘abstain from blood’ (Acts 15:20), is unchanged”, the statement said. a187
International spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, Paul Gillies, said the adjustment does not alter the group’s sacred view of blood.
“Blood remains sacred to Jehovah’s Witnesses, who continue to regard life and blood as precious gifts from God,” Gillies said. a187
The adjustment follows an earlier clarification in March 2026, where the Governing Body said the use of a person’s own blood removed, stored and later reinfused during surgery was now a matter of individual conscience.
The organisation said congregations will not interfere in such personal medical decisions.
