A recent treatment recommendation has evolved out of the literature on battered women that suggests that battered women should be encouraged by their therapists to leave their abusive relationships. A discussion about whether this is an ethically sound recommendation is presented. The Ethical Principles of Psychologists as well as five ethical principlesautonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and fidelity (Beauchamp & Childress, 1979)-are cited as helpful in determining whether the treatment recommendation is ethically justifiable. On one side of the issue is respect for the individual's autonomy and an assumption that the "battered woman syndrome" does not render a victim incompetent. On the other side of the dilemma, under the principle of beneficence, is a determination that, because the women have limited competence due to the "battered woman syndrome," a weak paternalistic intervention must be made. The latter argument is found to be weightier, and thus the treatment recommendation is ethically just.