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It is widely known that the Watchtower organization has a blood doctrine it imposes on Jehovah’s Witnesses that forbids blood transfusion. The same doctrinal position also makes it appear as though Jehovah’s Witnesses are forbidden to donate blood for transfusion.
The Watchtower organization makes a lot of noise about accepting transfusion of blood or donating blood, as though both are wrong and Jehovah's Witnesses do neither. But Jehovah’s Witnesses can and do use mightily from the donated blood supply for a wide range of blood products. Hemoglobin oxygenation agents, for instance, are permitted by Watchtower doctrine, and so is cryosupernatant. Alone, those two products make up the majority of a unit of blood. So it is false to think Jehovah’s Witnesses abstain from blood; they do not.
Though in its journals the Watchtower organization has never published details of its doctrinal position on donating blood, as it turns out the organization does not forbid Jehovah’s Witnesses from donating blood.
In year 2001 one of Jehovah’s Witnesses wrote the Watchtower organization and asked point-blank if it was permitted to donate blood for purposes of fractionating and transfusion all the products accepted by Jehovah’s Witnesses from the blood supply. Here is Watchtower’s response[1]:
It is widely known that the Watchtower organization has a blood doctrine it imposes on Jehovah’s Witnesses that forbids blood transfusion. The same doctrinal position also makes it appear as though Jehovah’s Witnesses are forbidden to donate blood for transfusion.
The Watchtower organization makes a lot of noise about accepting transfusion of blood or donating blood, as though both are wrong and Jehovah's Witnesses do neither. But Jehovah’s Witnesses can and do use mightily from the donated blood supply for a wide range of blood products. Hemoglobin oxygenation agents, for instance, are permitted by Watchtower doctrine, and so is cryosupernatant. Alone, those two products make up the majority of a unit of blood. So it is false to think Jehovah’s Witnesses abstain from blood; they do not.
Though in its journals the Watchtower organization has never published details of its doctrinal position on donating blood, as it turns out the organization does not forbid Jehovah’s Witnesses from donating blood.
In year 2001 one of Jehovah’s Witnesses wrote the Watchtower organization and asked point-blank if it was permitted to donate blood for purposes of fractionating and transfusion all the products accepted by Jehovah’s Witnesses from the blood supply. Here is Watchtower’s response[1]:
Watchtower doctrine permits Jehovah’s Witnesses to freely donate their own blood to have it fractionated and transfused.[2]
Given all the blood products accepted on a daily basis by Jehovah’s Witnesses and given the very limited supply of donor blood, I urge all of Jehovah’s Witnesses to join me in giving today.
Watchtower says you can do it. Do it for the babies and children, if not for the rest. It saves lives.
Marvin Shilmer
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References:
1. Watchtower letter to Cliff Roche dated July 30, 2001.
2. For more see the article Watchtower Priority?
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