U-turn on blood policy

Jehovah's Witnesses are now allowed to accept blood transfusions without facing excommunication from their faith.

Following a secret meeting of the following's 12 member global governing body at their New York headquarters, a change in practice was decreed and blood transfusion was officially downgraded to a “non-disfellowshipping event.” Jehovah's Witnesses may now consent to and accept blood transfusions in life or death situations without facing expulsion from the movement. This is the biggest stepdown in policy made at the Watchtower (the collective name of the movement's headquarters) since their predicted Armageddon failed to occur in 1975. It is, however, being dismissed as a “slight adjustment” to the rules by senior representatives of the organisation.

Until now, anyone who accepted blood or consented to transfusion for their child, even under life or death conditions, faced excommunication from the religion. In what is seen as a dramatic turnaround, elders announced the decision