Religious groups like Jehovah Witnesses refuse blood for religious reasons, but they do not actually have the choice. Jehovah Witnesses are influenced by coercion and intimidation from the elders and the society they live in. Out of fear, Jehovah witnesses adhere to their rules and to fit in as a loyal member they need to refuse blood transfusions. The Watch Tower Society makes these rules for all members of the family and this can be detrimental. Not getting the transfusion can lead to death of not only the adults, but the children too. People don’t actually know what Jehovah witnesses want because their opinions are silenced by the Watch Tower society. Jehovah witnesses need to have the choice to consent to denying blood transfusions.
Society has come to a consensus that people should be…show more content… They should be able to have a choice and not be ridiculed for it by the society they live in. Mill says that, “Mankind are the greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seen good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.” (Mill). According to Mill, then, people should decide about blood transfusions based off what they think is best for themselves and their beliefs, not what other people tell them. The WTS may be making their own interpretations of the bible instead of letting each individual person decide what they believe. We can see this by the rule that someone can be allowed to have some parts of blood but not others. If the bible states that you cannot take blood into your body, then it is interesting how the WTS allows certain components of blood to enter the body. This is something that can cause JW to believe that this rule is not based on G-D or the bible. G-D didn’t tell the WTS what parts of blood he meant in the bible, so there should be no difference between having fractions of blood enter your body compared to accepting whole
