ABSTRACT
This chapter is divided into four parts. First, I will present three ethical principles that are widely regarded as important within the field of biomedical ethics. Second, I will indicate how one of these three principles is generally accepted as the predominant principle in the traditional ethic of genetic counselors. In the third part of the chapter, I will explore how an ethic that gives primacy to respect for autonomy is already being challenged by some hard cases for genetic counselors. The fourth and most speculative part imagines how future technological or social developments could raise additional challenges to the predominant view.
