The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has adjusted its longstanding teaching on blood. In an announcement issued on 18 September 2026 from Warwick, New York, it said individual members may decide according to conscience whether to accept red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma or platelets from donated blood. They may also decide whether to donate blood when the purpose is to produce components or fractions for another person.
The ban on whole-blood transfusions remains in place. The organisation continues to base that refusal on the command to “abstain from blood” in Acts 15:20.
Spokesman Paul Gillies said blood is still regarded as sacred, but that decisions about the four main components now rest between each Witness and God. Congregations, he added, will not interfere with those personal choices.
The change follows an earlier 2026 update that already treated the use of a patient’s own blood as a matter of conscience. Whole blood from another person is still refused. What has changed is the status of its four primary parts.
