Robin Jackson Blog

The recent decision by the Johannesburg High Court in South Africa to grant the 15 year old daughter of Jehovah’s Witness parents a life saving blood transfusion after they objected has sparked a major debate. The issue has been featured on SABC news and also discussed on SAFM Radio’s After Eight Debate.

No doubt this is nothing new as the blood issue constantly puts the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the spotlight because of their refusal to accept this life-saving medical procedure. This has been the third time in an 18 month period that the courts have stepped in here in South Africa to save children’s lives. It certainly seems that the arguments put forward by the Jehovah’s Witnesses to defend their dogma, do not hold much weight any more.

It is with this story in mind that a group of former JWs here in South Africa we have decided that this issue should be the focus of a television expose over here. We have singled out a current affairs program called 3rd Degree which deals with stories like this. We feel that it is time that the blood issue, together with the paedophile cover-ups, should be brought to the fore.

In that regard we have decided to bombard the producers of the show with an e-mail campaign which we hope will get them to do an expose. That is why we would like you to send a little e-mail to the producers as well just to give the campaign a bit more clout. I know of paedophiles over here that are in good standing and continue to go door to door with free access to kids in the congregations.

The e-mail should be sent to info@etv.co.za. Your contribution to this campaign will be highly appreciated.

It seems as if the courts in South Africa are taking a hard line stance on children of Jehovah’s Witnesses and blood transfusions.

Court saves Jehovah’s Witness girl’s life

20 February 2009, 06:13
By Kanina Foss

A 12-year-old Jehovah’s Witness girl has received a life-saving blood transfusion that she did not want after a Johannesburg High Court order gave doctors the go-ahead.

The girl, who suffers from leukaemia, was admitted to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital on Tuesday. Despite being told that a blood transfusion was needed to save her life, the girl and her parents refused to consent to the procedure.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that it’s against God’s will to take other people’s blood, or one’s own blood that has been stored, into one’s body.

The official website of Watchtower, a Jehovah’s Witness organisation to which The Star was referred by the Jehovah’s Witnesses of South Africa, says: “True Christians will not accept a blood transfusion. They want to live, but they will not try to save their life by breaking God’s laws.”The Gauteng Department of Health said doctors consulted the girl’s parents and church elders to explain the need for the transfusion. When their explanations were rejected, they brought an urgent application before the High Court on Wednesday.

The court order was issued on the same day, and the girl was given a transfusion immediately.According to Department of Health spokesperson Phumelele Kaunda, the parents respected the court’s decision.The girl is doing well.SA Human Rights Commission chairperson Jody Kollapen said that in such cases, the right to life took precedence over the right to religion.He said adults were regarded as fit to make informed decisions about their own bodies, but in the case of a child, state intervention was sometimes necessary.

Jehovah’s Witnesses argue that there are often alternatives to a blood transfusion, and they want to be allowed to consider other options.They base their beliefs on biblical text such as Acts 21, verse 25: “As for the believers from among the nations, we have sent out, rendering our decision that they should keep themselves from what is sacrificed to idols as well as from blood and what is strangled and from fornication.”In November, the Pietermaritzburg High Court granted an urgent order authorising a blood transfusion for a four-day-old baby boy who was born 15 weeks premature. His Jehovah’s Witness parents had refused to give their consent, despite a prognosis from the doctor involved.

This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on February 20, 2009

http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20090220054001117C891248