Jehovah’s Witnesses have announced a significant change to their guidance on blood, allowing individual members to decide according to personal conscience whether to accept or donate four primary blood components.
The organisation’s Governing Body announced the adjustment on Friday, September 18, 2026, in a statement issued from its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York.
The announcement concerns red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma and platelets obtained from another person’s blood.
Under the new guidance, each Witness is responsible for deciding whether to accept one or more of the four components during medical or surgical treatment. The organisation said the decision is a matter of personal conscience.
Jehovah’s Witnesses may also now personally decide whether to donate blood specifically for the purpose of providing components or fractions for medical use by another person. Local congregations are not expected to interfere in such individual decisions.
However, the organisation stressed that its longstanding position against whole-blood transfusions remains unchanged. Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to base that religious position on their interpretation of the biblical command to “abstain from blood.”
Paul Gillies, an international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, said the organisation continues to regard blood and life as sacred, while recognising that decisions involving the four primary components should be made individually.
According to the organisation, the latest adjustment extends an approach it had already applied to blood fractions and certain medical procedures involving a person’s own blood.
Under the new guidance, each Witness is responsible for deciding whether to accept one or more of the four components during medical or surgical treatment. The organisation said the decision is a matter of personal conscience.
Jehovah’s Witnesses may also now personally decide whether to donate blood specifically for the purpose of providing components or fractions for medical use by another person. Local congregations are not expected to interfere in such individual decisions.
However, the organisation stressed that its longstanding position against whole-blood transfusions remains unchanged. Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to base that religious position on their interpretation of the biblical command to “abstain from blood.”
Paul Gillies, an international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, said the organisation continues to regard blood and life as sacred, while recognising that decisions involving the four primary components should be made individually.
According to the organisation, the latest adjustment extends an approach it had already applied to blood fractions and certain medical procedures involving a person’s own blood.
Its official medical information now states that decisions involving donor red cells, white cells, plasma and platelets are matters of individual conscience.
The change represents a departure from the organisation’s previous position, under which Jehovah’s Witnesses generally rejected transfusions involving the four primary components of blood.
The change represents a departure from the organisation’s previous position, under which Jehovah’s Witnesses generally rejected transfusions involving the four primary components of blood.
Earlier guidance had distinguished these components from smaller blood fractions, which were already matters for individual conscience.
The organisation said it does not practise faith healing and that its members seek medical treatment from doctors who can provide care consistent with their wishes, values and beliefs.
The development follows another adjustment announced earlier in 2026 concerning the use of a person’s own blood during medical procedures.
The organisation said it does not practise faith healing and that its members seek medical treatment from doctors who can provide care consistent with their wishes, values and beliefs.
The development follows another adjustment announced earlier in 2026 concerning the use of a person’s own blood during medical procedures.
The organisation said that decision-making principle has now been extended to the four primary components obtained from another person’s blood.
Jehovah’s Witnesses said the decision does not mean the Governing Body regards treatments involving blood components as unimportant.
Jehovah’s Witnesses said the decision does not mean the Governing Body regards treatments involving blood components as unimportant.
Rather, it said the absence of specific biblical instructions on the medical use of these components means individual members must make their own conscientious decisions.
The organisation said it has more than nine million members worldwide across congregations in more than 200 lands.
The new guidance therefore creates a distinction between whole blood, which remains prohibited under the organisation’s longstanding teaching, and the four primary blood components, for which individual members can now make their own decisions based on conscience.
The organisation said it has more than nine million members worldwide across congregations in more than 200 lands.
The new guidance therefore creates a distinction between whole blood, which remains prohibited under the organisation’s longstanding teaching, and the four primary blood components, for which individual members can now make their own decisions based on conscience.
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