Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., a licensed physician, told Newsmax that doctors pushing gender-changing treatments on children are guilty of malpractice.
Murphy's remarks Friday on "National Report" came after Republican lawmakers in North Carolina on Wednesday voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of several bills and pass new laws aimed at transgender youth
The state House and Senate, mostly along party lines, voted to pass legislation restricting hormone treatments, surgeries, and puberty blockers for young people, preventing how gender identity can be discussed in schools, and prohibiting trans athletes from competing on girls' sports teams.
Murphy said he agreed with the lawmakers' override.
"There is a normal period of psychological transformation that every 5-year-old kid goes through," he said. "The fact that physicians want to prescribe life-altering medications to children, in my opinion, as a urologist and a medical practitioner of 35 plus years, is absolutely malpractice because you're dealing with a psychiatric issue.
"Sadly enough, these kids have an almost 40% chance of committing suicide, and doing all these other things doesn't change that risk. And so, you're changing their lives at a time where these children absolutely do not have the mental and cognitive faculties to make life-altering decisions, so I think it's absolutely the right reason."