Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Blood Transfusion Policy Still Threatens Public Health, Activist Says | Sahara Reporters

It also said members could decide whether to donate blood specifically for the purpose of providing components or fractions for another person.

The Humanist Enabling Life Project (HELP) has criticised the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ revised position on blood transfusions, saying the religious organisation’s continued refusal of whole-blood transfusions still poses a threat to public health.

In a statement by its director, Leo Igwe, HELP said it welcomed the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ recent decision to allow members to personally decide whether to accept certain blood components, but argued that the change did not go far enough.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Governing Body announced in a statement published on its website on September 18, 2026, that accepting red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets from another person’s blood would now be a matter of individual conscience.

It also said members could decide whether to donate blood specifically for the purpose of providing components or fractions for another person.

However, the organisation maintained its longstanding refusal of whole-blood transfusions on religious grounds, citing the biblical instruction to “abstain from blood.”

Reacting to the announcement, Igwe said the Jehovah’s Witnesses should completely rescind their ban on blood transfusions rather than maintain the prohibition while allowing individual members to make decisions about certain blood components.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses should stop approbating and reprobating on blood transfusion,” Igwe said.

He described the organisation’s policy as harmful and called on it to acknowledge what he described as the adverse consequences of the policy over the years.

According to him, the organisation should apologise for the impact of its blood transfusion policy on members and other people affected by it.

Igwe argued that the continued ban on whole-blood transfusions, alongside the new allowance for personal decisions concerning blood components, could create confusion among members.

He alleged that the policy had contributed to deaths and health complications among Jehovah’s Witnesses and their families in different parts of the world.

The HELP director also referred to a case in Calabar, Nigeria, involving a baby who required a blood transfusion.

He said HELP had welcomed an order obtained by the Basic Rights Counsel last year allowing the baby to receive the treatment.

According to Igwe, HELP was informed that Jehovah’s Witnesses officials at the clinic allegedly pressured the child’s parent to have the baby discharged against medical advice.

“There have been many cases where children died because their JW parents or family members denied them blood transfusion,” Igwe alleged.

He said HELP was not seeking what he described as a partial easing of the policy but wanted the Jehovah’s Witnesses to completely remove the prohibition on blood transfusions.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses should rescind the ban without reservation and apologize to the world,” he said.