Jehovah's Witnesses has updated its policy on blood transfusions to allow members to have their own blood removed, stored, and "given back" in medical procedures.
While the change will enable members to have transfusions of their own blood - in planned surgeries, for example - they continue to be prohibited from receiving the blood of others.
Gerrit Losch, part of the group's leadership, announced the move saying "each Christian must decide for himself how his blood will be used in medical and surgical care".
Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian-based religious movement, probably best known for its door-to-door evangelism. It claims 144,000 active members in the UK, and nine million worldwide.
The group has historically ruled that members cannot accept blood transfusions, as - according to the groups website - both the Old and New Testaments "command us to abstain from blood".
