 antimicrobial prescribing and the associated discipline of antimicrobial stewardship have inherent ethical and moral dimensions. We contend that the explicit, formal application of ethical principles and frameworks can strengthen and further justify the value of antimicrobial stewardship programmes and their work. To illustrate the value of this process, we highlight three ethical scenarios that antimicrobial stewardship programmes regularly encounter at the prescriber, institutional and societal levels, and we analyse these scenarios using the Beecham and Childress Biomedical Ethics Framework. This article was authored by Christina F. Yen and James B. Cutrell.