When a physician makes a referral, he or she is requesting the service involved and an intimate part of the process. That is quite different from sharing a piece of information (such as a 1-800 number) with the patient who asks for it, who can then self-refer. Yes, the outcome is ultimately the same, but there is a difference in the responsibility involved.  It is utterly unnecessary to force MD's to go against their sincerely held conscientious objections when such simple alternatives exist; particularly since what is involved was a most serious crime until very, very recently; to say nothing of being against 2500 years of Hippocratic tradition. It unfortunately is a sign of our times, everything that isn't forbidden seems to be compulsory.