Thank you for the background Orphan Crow.
Such a needless waste of life based on nothing but pride and arrogance. This is what happens when one or two autocrats are allowed to dominate the lives of millions. This is what puts the religion right on the cult spectrum in my opinion. If there was genuine freedom of thought it would be easy to convince JWs to rethink this issue, or at least to give them pause before sacrificing their child.
I began to research blood as a loyal JW although I had began to have doubts triggered by the '95 Watchtower about the "generation". I read everything I could starting with the little blood booklet. There was a brief comment something like "a measure of guilt resulted from eating the blood of an animal found already dead (Lev.11:38,39)" That was a red light!
I got the concordance out and surveyed every reference to blood in the bible. Within a few hours I had worked out the solution. When I found the Q from R that said it was about accidentally eating blood I knew I was being lied to. I told the other elders I would not be renewing my blood card. That was the beginning of the end.