A documented reference, cited to the original publications
JWTruth.org is a reference for anyone with questions about what Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught: the teachings, the rules, the history, and what the organisation says about each of them today. Every statement here is quoted from a published source, with its date and its page. Most of them link straight to the organisation’s own library, so you can read the full context yourself.
Some of this is history. A great deal of it is current. We do not tell you what to conclude, and nothing here asks you to take our word for anything.
Start hereThe blood rulesHow we verify
Leading evidence collection · updated 19 September 2026
For the first time since the 1945 prohibition of transfusion (the components were named explicitly from 1982), red cells, white cells, plasma and platelets from another person may be accepted as a personal decision. The prohibition on whole blood remains. Here is the earlier wording and the new wording, from the organisation’s own publications.
Published position, 1990 to September 2026
Witnesses do not accept transfusions of whole blood, red cells, white cells, platelets, or blood plasma.
The brochure is still published on JW.org. Its footnote names whole blood and the four primary components as things Witnesses ‘do not accept’.
Announced 18 September 2026
Therefore, each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care.
The same article states that whole-blood transfusion, and donating blood for whole-blood use, remain unacceptable. Source: JW.org Global News (press release), 18 September 2026
Read the full evidence collectionThen-versus-now matrixThe 1994 Awake! issue
The record
Set in type, not reproduced. The artwork of the cover is not shown here. Still published on the organisation’s own online library.
The contents page of this issue said that in former times thousands of youths died for putting God first, that “they are still doing it”, and that the modern issue is blood transfusions. Its two feature articles name six young people. Three of them died.
Adrian Yeatts was 14 at diagnosis. Lenae Martinez was 12. Lisa Kosack was 12. The categories of blood they were taught to refuse are, since 18 September 2026, a personal decision that the congregation “will not get involved in”.
Our page sets out exactly what the issue documents, person by person, including the medical advice as the magazine itself reports it and the court proceedings behind three of the cases. It also explains what cannot honestly be said about the cover, and why we do not repeat it.
Read what the 1994 issue documentsDeaths, court cases and medical risk
Evidence collections
Evidence centre
What was expected for 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975 and the “generation of 1914”, in the original words, with what happened and how it was later explained.
Comparison library
What was taught, what replaced it, and what it cost: organ transplants, vaccination, alternative service, the greeting rule and the word ‘disfellowshipped’, beards and dress (guidance, not doctrine), the faithful slave and more.
Evidence collection
The published rules on removed, disassociated and inactive members, what changed in 2024, and what courts and inquiries have found.
Evidence collection
The two-witness rule, reporting to authorities and the findings of public inquiries, handled with care for survivors.
Evidence collection
Claims of divine direction beside admissions of fallibility; guidance on independent research; the United Nations association.
Library
Every claim on the site with its confidence label and sources, filterable by topic, decade, kind of statement and source type.
How to read this site
1
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2
What was said afterwards, with the same precision, including the organisation’s own present explanation where one exists.
3
What actually happened, and what can be stated with confidence. Each claim carries one of four labels: Verified Supported Disputed Unverified
If you are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Most of what is quoted here is on the organisation’s own website, and every citation links there so you can read the full article in context. Take your time. Nobody here will ask you to do anything, sign anything or decide anything.
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If you are a journalist, researcher, lawyer or clinician
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