Can Jehovah's Witnesses take blood without being expelled from their church? Apparently they can—in Sweden, Denmark and Bulgaria, but not elsewhere

In a March 1998 settlement with the government of Bulgaria the sect agreed "that members should have free choice in the matter for themselves and their children, without any control or sanction on the part of the association," according to European Commission of Human Rights press release No. 148.

Spokesmen at Watch Tower headquarters in Brooklyn subsequently denied that the sect had changed its doctrine prohibiting transfusions and reiterated that a JW violating the ban would face "disfellowshipping" by a judicial committee—i.e., expulsion and shunning.

But now the Witnesses in Denmark and Sweden appear to be following the Bulgarian lead in abandoning that longstanding policy.

"We have chosen not to inform the members" about the Bulgarian situation, said Michael Bjørk, spokesman for the sect's branch office in Denmark, according to Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende, but he added that "members who accept blood once are no longer automatically expelled. On the contrary they need spiritual guidance."

"To receive blood is a question of personal conscience," declared Swedish Watch Tower spokesman Olle Hjärpe. "Earlier members of Jehovah's Witnesses were disfellowshipped if they accepted a blood transfusion. This is not the case now," he told reporter Johanna Kronlid of the news agency FLT. Her copyrighted article in Helsingborgs Dagblad quoted Hjärpe as adding, "We talk with the person and give spiritual guidance, but we do not condemn and disfellowship if the person in question doesn't openly advocate blood transfusions."

The Dagblad article noted skepticism, however, on the part of Swedish observers such as religion writer Haakan Arlebrand: "Jehovah's Witnesses rarely drastically change views like this. There is a lot of secrecy inside," he explained. And former Witness Rud Persson was quoted as saying, "Jehovah's Witnesses are tricky. They can state that this is up to each individual member, but later this individual will be shunned anyway."

For more information + documentation, see our booklet Blood, Human Rights and Jehovah's Witnesses.