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Blood doctrine · Claim record

In October 2000 The Watchtower stated that Witnesses ‘do not donate blood, nor do we store for transfusion our blood’, and that the practice of depositing one’s own blood before surgery ‘conflicts with God’s law’.

Claim ID claim-blood-2000-own-blood-conflicts-with-gods-lawConcerns 15 October 2000Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 15 October 2000 Verified

In October 2000 The Watchtower stated that Witnesses ‘do not donate blood, nor do we store for transfusion our blood’, and that the practice of depositing one’s own blood before surgery ‘conflicts with God’s law’. The Watchtower, 15 October 2000

The organisation’s position or later explanation: In March 2026 the Governing Body said the Bible ‘does not comment’ on the use of a person’s own blood; the 2000 wording was not described as an error but the position was ‘clarified’.

Show the evidence (1 source)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “Questions From Readers”

15 October 2000 · pp.30-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“Hence, we do not donate blood, nor do we store for transfusion our blood that should be ‘poured out.’ That practice conflicts with God’s law.”

The question asked was: ‘In the light of Bible commands about the proper use of blood, how do Jehovah’s Witnesses view medical procedures using one’s own blood?’ The article said that depositing one’s own blood weeks before surgery ‘directly contradicts’ Leviticus and Deuteronomy, while procedures in which the patient’s blood stays in a continuous circuit (haemodilution, cell salvage, heart-lung machines, dialysis) were left for each Christian to decide.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; question and quotations confirmed word for word.

Corroborated by. src-ap-2026-0320-own-blood

Notes. This is the categorical wording that the 20 March 2026 update replaced.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-w-2000-1015-qfr-own-blood

Claim page

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