Tocology...know what that is?  Well, it's another word for midwifery.  (Technically, Tocology is the "science of childbirth", but this word tends to be used when describing midwifery, not OB-GYN medical practice.)

Turns out Sen John Loudon (R-Chesterfield) decided that a bill designed to provide private insurance to low-income workers [1] had a little tocological surprise rolled up inside.He stuck the following language in the substitute bill:

Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any person who holds current ministerial or tocological certification by an organization accredited by the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA) may provide services as defined in 42 U.S.C. 1396 r-6(b)(4)(E)(ii)(I).

"Tocological?"  "Ministerial?"   Oh, yeah, and NOCA is in GEORGIA. Looks like Gibbons not only is backdooring the practice of lay midwifery (midwives who are not nurse practitioners, which presently is the only form of legal midwifery in Missouri,)
he is perfectly happy to let an accrediting agency in Georgia [2] oversee it. 

Even his GOP colleagues are angry enough about his substitution that they are saying it will cost him his committee chair.

If Gibbons is so proud of lay midwifery, why is he hiding behind the word "tocology?"