Debra Anthony's assertion, in her letter to the editor, that the American Medical Association (AMA) supports the recently upheld 2003 ban on partial birth abortion (intact D&X) is patently false. While the AMA may have supported different versions of the ban in the past to protect physicians who perform intact D&X procedures from criminal charges, they did not support the current ban. The AMA's policy on late-term pregnancy termination (H-5.982) clearly states that when considering whether intact D&X should be the procedure used, "the physician must, however, retain the discretion to make that judgment, acting within standards of good medical practice and in the best interest of the patient." Ms. Anthony also fails to mention the opposition of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the group of physicians in whose purview abortion procedures lie, to this ban. While intact D&X may be unpalatable to many because of the manner in which the fetus is removed and destroyed, it is a medical procedure that is best left in the hands of physicians.