Governing Body member Geoffrey Jackson says the decision now rests with each believer’s personal conscience, in the second such revision this year.

The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has announced that members can now decide, based on personal conscience, whether to accept or donate the four main components of blood, while its longstanding prohibition on whole-blood transfusions remains unchanged.

The organisation announced the policy in a statement issued by its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York, and published on its website on Friday, 18 September.

What the new policy actually changes

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.”

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.”

The four components covered by the change, plasma, platelets, and red and white blood cells, are commonly used in treatments for trauma, anaemia, infections and certain cancers, according to the American Red Cross.

Geoffrey W. Jackson, a member of the Governing Body, said the decision now belongs to each individual believer.

“Each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care,” he said.

However, the organisation stressed that its core teaching against whole-blood transfusions has not changed.

“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.

Why the change, according to the organisation

Paul Gillies, international spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses at the World Headquarters, said blood remains sacred to the faith, but that decisions on components are a matter between the individual and God.

“Blood remains sacred to Jehovah’s Witnesses, who continue to regard life and blood as precious gifts from God,” Gillies said.

“We recognise that medical decisions involving blood components are a matter of conscience between each Witness and their God, Jehovah.”

In a separate interview, Gillies said the decision should not be made lightly, describing it as something members should pray over carefully before deciding.

The organisation said the adjustment follows earlier updates on blood fractions and the use of a person’s own blood during medical procedures, and that the reasoning behind those earlier changes “has now been extended to the four main components of blood.”

The Associated Press reported that Friday’s announcement is the second revision this year to one of the religion’s most distinctive and long-debated teachings, following a clarification in March that allowed individual Witnesses to decide whether their own blood could be removed, stored and returned to them during surgery, while maintaining the ban on receiving blood from another person.

What the policy says about medical care generally

On broader medical treatment, the statement said Jehovah’s Witnesses “love life and want the best available medical care,” adding that “they do not practise faith healing, and they seek out doctors who can provide effective treatment in accord with their wishes, values and beliefs.”

Gillies said local congregations would not interfere in members’ personal decisions on blood. “Congregations do not involve themselves in personal decisions that rest with the individual conscience.

We will continue to respect and support the personal decisions of our fellow believers,” he said, adding gratitude for “the many skilled and compassionate physicians who provide quality medical care that respects our personal wishes regarding blood.“

The organisation says Jehovah’s Witnesses number over nine million worldwide, across congregations in more than 200 countries.