Jehovah’s Witnesses Adjust Blood Policy to Allow Members to Store Own Blood for Future Medical Use

The Jehovah's Witnesses are popular for being a church with a peculiar set of laws and guidelines that regulate the lives of their members globally. Among some of the laws guiding the matters of health in the church is the inability of members to receive blood transfusions.

However, in recent development, the Jehovah's Witness Church has now reviewed this guideline to allow members to receive blood transfusions. In a video shared by the church media arm, one of its leadership committee members stated that after much prayer and consideration of the scriptures, the governing body has decided to clarify the church's position on the use of a member's own blood in medical care and procedures.

"Each Christian (Jehovah's Witnesses Members) must decide for himself how his own blood will be used in all medical and surgical care. This includes whether to allow his own blood to be removed, stored, and given back to him."

This new directive relaxes the Church's previous guideline that outrightly bans the removal and transfusion of blood and gives the members the power to decide whether to remove their blood, store it, and receive it in transfusion for future medical care.

Unlike in the past, when members couldn't receive blood transfusions, they can now elect to have their blood removed and stored for future medical use.

The Jehovah's Witnesses Church clarified that while Christians are not under the Mosaic Laws, they obey the Apostolic command to abstain from blood. The church also noted that the Bible is silent on the use of one's own blood for medical and surgical care. Therefore, each Christian must decide on how to handle matters of his own health.

However, the church's clarification clearly spoke on the capacity of members to decide to remove and store their blood for future medical use rather than receiving blood transfusions from third parties. It appears that the receiving of blood transfusions from third parties remains banned for Jehovah's Witnesses' members.

This new guideline has since gone viral on social media, where observers commented on the Church's previous stance, which they considered to be responsible for the avoidable loss of lives. Many referred to the recent case of popular personal shopper Aunty Esther, a Jehovah's Witness Member, who refused a blood transfusion to treat a breast cancer issue.

Jehovah's Witnesses' peculiar laws and distinct lifestyle have led to criticisms and even a ban in Russia, China, Singapore, and Eritrea, where the church is considered an extremist organisation.