https://www.jwupdates.com/post/aawa-raising-the-blood-issue-again
The following appeared on the Good Man Project website and it is an interview with Lee Elder, the current leader of AAWA and his latest activism on the blood issue ,worth reading...
Lee Elder is the founder and acting director of AJWRB (Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reforms on Blood). AJWRB is a non-profit educational association operating under the umbrella of AAWA (Advocates for Awareness of Watchtower Abuses).
Born and raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, Lee is part of the fourth generation in his family to follow this faith. He was baptized at the age of nine and started serving as a regular pioneer at fifteen. After completing college, he continued his service as a ministerial servant, and regular pioneer. He was later appointed as an elder where he held various responsibilities within the congregation, such as Book study conductor, Congregation Secretary, and Watchtower Study Conductor.....
Lee’s interest in the Watchtower’s blood policies was heightened following a significant exchange with his primary care doctor in the early 1990’s. This, coupled with the distressing experiences he witnessed among Jehovah’s Witnesses, led to numerous unanswered questions.
After an extensive period of study, Lee concluded the Watchtower’s blood policy was flawed from its inception. Sharing this conclusion with other Jehovah’s Witnesses risked charges of apostasy and expulsion, with even the closest family members being required to shun. This was the mechanism Watchtower had used to suppress dissent for many decades. The advent of the internet, however, enabled a remarkable change.
In February of 1997, having been rebuffed by a member of the Governing Body, Lee opened a website titled “New Light on Blood” to expose the various irrational and unscriptural aspects of the policy. Soon, he was contacted by numerous Jehovah’s Witnesses who were struggling to deal with Watchtower’s policy. Many of these were other elders, as well as HLC (Hospital Liaison Committee) members, and various organization officials. Over the following year this group reformed as AJWRB and set out on a mission to reform the Watchtower’s blood policies.
Although no longer active as a Jehovah’s Witness, Lee continues to advocate for Jehovah’s Witnesses, and educates both patients and the medical community about the irrational aspects of Watchtower’s blood policy. He envisions a future where all members will have the opportunity to make fully informed choices about their healthcare without the constraints of coercion and mandated shunning.
“Lee Elder” is a pseudonym Lee adopted while still an active Jehovah’s Witness elder in the mid 1990’s. This alias enabled him to retain his standing within the Jehovah’s Witness community while spearheading an initiative from within the Watchtower Society to reform its blood policy. His dedication for seeking reform of the Watchtower’s blood policy is driven by his concern for fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses and their families. Lee contributions have been acknowledged through publications in the British Journal of Medical Ethics and interviews with the BBC. Frequently cited in medical journals, Lee currently serves as the Vice President at AAWA.
Here, we talk about the issues AJWRB tackles.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Now, to the main focus of Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood (AJWRB), the issue of blood transfusions. Not for the life-and-death medical emergencies, but, rather, for the issues around the blood issues requiring ongoing care and medical treatment. What has been the position for decades of the Jehovah’s Witnesses on blood transfusions?
Lee Elder: Elements of the Watchtower’s blood policy have been stable for many decades. Namely, that whole blood transfusion is prohibited, along with the primary components: red cells, white cells, platelets, and plasma. However, their position on the use of the 200 plus plasma proteins has been in a near-constant state of flux beginning in the 1950’s. While there were numerous reversals in the 1950’s, the trend was unmistakable, and by the 1980’s they were permitting 100% of blood plasma fractions.
Numerous members of AJWRB pressed the Watchtower for an explanation as to why these blood products were acceptable when some of them, like albumin, are much larger by volume than platelets – which are not allowed.
In response to the rising criticism leveled by AJWRB, physicians, and medical ethicists, in 2000 the Watchtower responded by changing their policy to permit the use of all blood fractions from not only plasma, but the remaining blood components (red & white cells, and platelets).
Additionally, unreleased Watchtower documents showed the Watchtower leadership was on the cusp of permitting Jehovah’s Witnesses to predonate their own blood, and had printed and shipped advance directives to this effect, but suddenly changed their minds and withdrew them in late 2001. The policy has been static since that time, so as it stands, Jehovah’s Witnesses may technically use 100% of blood as long as it is fractionated.
This includes the largest of all blood proteins – hemoglobin which transports oxygen. If a stable and FDA approved hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier (HBOC) is developed, it would likely solve many of the problems their policies have created. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been using Hemopure (an HBOC developed from bovine hemoglobin) on a compassionate use basis for about 20 years, and it is approved for use in South Africa. However, the dream of artificial blood has proved elusive for Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as the military.
https://www.ajwrb.org/watchtower-approves-hemopure
Jacobsen: What was the position of the Jehovah’s Witnesses on this stuff before the change in the 1960s on the policy?
Elder: Answered above. If you want more detail look here:
https://www.ajwrb.org/the-historical-perspective
Jacobsen: There’s more than one elephant in the room. Here’s one, if we did not have the scientific and secular revolutions, and medical technological and technique advancements, we would not know about this – nor would the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In that, this only became an issue in the light of the advancements of modern science, medical technology, and secular society, not Jehovah’s Witnesses culture. Obviously, the justifications for the Jehovah’s Witnesses come from the Bible. My bias aligns with the analysis of the brilliant and articulate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter, Francesca Stavrakopoulou (who I absolutely adore as an intellectual), i.e., the Bible is a collection of storybooks or a collection of opinions reified into some divine or transcendental truth status. It is an analysis of fellow traveler humanists, by and large. What is the mixed status of the Jehovah’s Witnesses towards science and medicine in general terms?
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https://www.jwupdates.com/post/aawa-raising-the-blood-issue-again