Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood Transfusions:

History of doctrine

From 1931,^[65] when the name “Jehovah’s witnesses” was adopted, Watch Tower Society publications maintained the view of Society founder Charles Taze Russell that the reference to abstaining from the eating of blood in the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:19–29 was a “suggestion” to be given to Gentileconverts.^[66]^[67] Watch Tower publications during the presidency of Joseph Franklin Rutherford commended the commercial and emergency uses of blood.^[68]^[69] A 1925 issue of The Golden Age commended a man for donating blood 45 times without payment.^[70] In 1927, The Watchtower noted, without elaboration, that in Genesis 9, God decreed that Noah and his offspring “must not eat the blood, because the life is in the blood”.^[71] In 1940 Consolationmagazine reported on a woman who accidentally shot herself with a revolver in her heart and survived a major surgical procedure during which an attending physician donated a quart of his own blood for transfusion.^[72]

In 1944, with the Watch Tower Society under the administration of president Nathan Homer Knorr, The Watchtower asserted that the decrees contained in Genesis 9:4 and Leviticus 17:10–14 forbade the eating or drinking of blood in biblical times “whether by transfusion or by the mouth” and that this applied “in a spiritual way to the consecrated persons of good-will today, otherwise known as ‘Jonadabs‘ of the Lord’s ‘other sheep’.”^[73]

In September 1945, representatives of the Watch Tower Society in the Netherlands commented on blood transfusion in the Dutch edition of Consolation. A translation of their comments into English reads:

When we lose our life because we refuse inoculations, that does not bear witness as a justification of Jehovah’s name. God never issued regulations which prohibit the use of drugs, inoculations or blood transfusions. It is an invention of people, who, like the Pharisees, leave Jehovah’s mercy and love aside.^[74]

According to sociologist Richard Singelenbreg, the statement appearing in the Dutch edition of Consolation may have been published without knowledge of the doctrinal position published in the English July 1945 issue of Consolation by the Watch Tower Society’s headquarters in the United States.^[75]

In 1945, the application of the doctrine on blood was expanded to prohibit blood transfusions of whole blood, whether allogeneic or autologous.^[76] The prohibition did not specify any punitive measures for accepting a transfusion, but by January 1961—in what was later described as an application of “increased strictness”^[77]—it was ruled that it was a disfellowshipping offense to conscientiously accept a blood transfusion.^[78] Watch Tower publications warned that accepting a blood transfusion could prevent Witnesses from living eternally in God’s new world, the hope held by members: “It may result in the immediate and very temporary prolongation of life, but that at the cost of eternal life for a dedicated Christian.”^[79]

In September 1956, Awake! stated, “certain blood fractions … also come under the Scriptural ban”.^[80] A position against “the various blood fractions” was reiterated in September 1961.^[81] In November of the same year, the doctrine was modified to allow individual members to decide whether they could conscientiously accept fractions used from blood for purposes such as vaccination.^[82] This position has been expanded on since; the pre-formatted Durable Power of Attorney form provided by the Watch Tower Society includes an option for Jehovah’s Witnesses to “accept all fractions derived from any primary component of blood.”^[83]

In 1964, Jehovah’s Witnesses were prohibited from obtaining transfusions for pets, from using fertilizer containing blood, and were even advised (if their conscience troubled them) to write to dog food manufacturers to verify that their products were blood-free.^[84] Later that year, it was stated that doctors or nurses who are Jehovah’s Witness would not administer blood transfusions to fellow dedicated members. As to administering transfusions to non-members, The Watchtower stated that such a decision is “left to the Christian doctor’s own conscience.”^[85]

In 1982, a Watchtower article declared that it would be wrong for a Witness to allow a leech to feed on his/her blood as part of a medical procedure, due to the sacredness of blood.^[86]

In 1989 The Watchtower stated, “Each individual must decide” whether to accept hemodilution and autologous blood salvage (cell saver) procedures.^[87]In 1990, a brochure entitled How Can Blood Save Your Life? was released, outlining Jehovah’s Witnesses’ general doctrine on blood.

In 2000, the Watch Tower Society’s stand on blood fractions was clearly stated.^[88] Members were instructed to personally decide if accepting a fraction would violate the doctrine on blood. In a later article, members were reminded that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not donate blood or store their own blood prior to surgery.^[89]

In May 2001, the Watch Tower Society revised its medical directives and identity cards addressing its doctrinal position on blood; the revised materials were distributed from May 3, 2001.^[90] These revised documents specified that “allogeneic blood transfusions” were unacceptable whereas the former document (dated 1999) stated that “blood transfusions” were unacceptable. The revised 2001 documents were active until December 20, 2001. The Watch Tower Society then rescinded the revised document, stating, “After further review, it has been determined that the cards dated “md-E 6/01” and “ic-E 6/01″ should not be used. Please destroy these items and make sure that they are not distributed to the publishers.” Elders were instructed to revert to the older 1999 edition of the medical directives and identity cards.^[91]

Watch Tower Society publications frequently claim negative consequences of blood transfusions:

A 1951 Watchtower declared: “And let the transfusion enthusiasts with a savior-complex ponder the fact that on many occasions transfusions do harm, spread disease, and frequently cause deaths, which, of course, are not publicized.”^[92]
A 1961 Watchtower quoted Brazilian surgeon Dr Américo Valério as saying transfusions were often followed by “moral insanity, sexual perversions, repression, inferiority complexes, petty crimes” and Dr Alonzo Jay Shadman claiming that a person’s blood “contains all the peculiarities of the individual … [including] hereditary taints, disease susceptibilities, poisons due to personal living, eating and drinking habits … The poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood.”^[93]
A 1969 Awake! reported on a man named Robert Khoury, who, after receiving a blood transfusion said, “When I recovered I found I had a terrible desire to steal.”^[94]
A 1974 Awake! cited a Centers for Disease Control report that as many as 35,000 deaths and 500,000 illnesses a year might be due to the presence of serum hepatitis in blood for transfusions.^[95]
A 2006 Awake! highlighted dangers from transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI).^[96]