Gaming history is full of weird moments, but few things hit the mainstream news cycle quite like the South Park Stick of Truth abortion sequence. It was 2014. Obsidian Entertainment and Ubisoft were about to drop a game that looked exactly like the show. Then, the ratings boards got a look at the "Unplanned Parenthood" level.
Suddenly, players in Europe and Australia were staring at a crying koala or a facepalming statue instead of the actual gameplay. It was a mess. Honestly, even by South Park standards, it was a lot.
The game doesn't just mention the procedure. It makes you play it. You’re there, dressed as a "girl" to infiltrate the clinic, and suddenly you’re tasked with performing a clinical procedure on Randy Marsh, who is disguised as a pregnant woman. It's ridiculous. It's gross. It is, quite literally, South Park.
The Censorship Map: Who Saw What?
Most American players probably didn't even realize there was a controversy until they went online. In the United States, the game shipped completely uncut. If you bought it on Steam or for your PlayStation in New York, you got the full, interactive experience. But across the pond? Totally different story.
Ubisoft decided to self-censor the South Park Stick of Truth abortion scenes in EMEA territories (Europe, Middle East, Africa). If you played the censored version, the screen would go black. A text description written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker would pop up, mockingly describing what you were missing. It was their way of flipping the bird to the censors while technically complying with the rules to avoid an "Adults Only" rating or an outright ban.
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Australia was particularly strict. The Australian Classification Board has a history of being "the final boss" for game developers. To get a MA15+ rating, the scenes had to go.
What Actually Happens in the Unplanned Parenthood Level?
If you haven't seen the uncensored footage, you're probably wondering what the big deal was. Basically, the story requires the "New Kid" to get information from the abortion clinic. To get inside, you have to help Randy Marsh, who is undercover and pretending to be a woman named "Loretta."
The gameplay involves a series of mini-games. You have to use the analog sticks or mouse to control surgical tools. One part involves a vacuum. Another involves a needle. It’s mechanically similar to the "Operation" board game but with the most tasteless coat of paint imaginable.
The humor comes from the absurdity—Randy screaming in a wig while the doctors act like everything is normal. But for rating boards, the "interactivity" was the line in the sand. Watching a cartoon characters do something is one thing; forcing the player to push the buttons to perform the procedure is what triggered the censors.
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The "Nazi Zombie" Connection
It wasn't just the abortion clinic. The game also featured Nazi Zombie fetuses. Yeah, you read that right. During the chaos at the clinic, green slime turns discarded remains into tiny, swastika-wearing enemies that you have to fight in turn-based combat.
This specific detail is why the game ran into massive legal walls in Germany. While the US and UK might argue about taste, Germany has very strict laws regarding the depiction of Nazi symbols (Strafgesetzbuch section 86a). Even though the game was poking fun at the absurdity of it, Ubisoft had to go back and scrub the swastikas for the German market to avoid criminal charges.
Why the Stick of Truth Abortion Scene Still Matters
South Park has always been a mirror for cultural anxieties. By putting the South Park Stick of Truth abortion scene in a video game, Matt and Trey were testing the limits of what people considered "art." They’ve spent decades doing this on TV, but the interactive nature of gaming changed the conversation.
Critics like those at Polygon or IGN at the time noted that the censorship actually made the scenes more famous. By putting those "Censored" screens in, the developers turned a legal headache into a meta-joke. It became a badge of honor for the fans.
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There's also the technical side. Obsidian Entertainment had to build two versions of the game. That’s not cheap. It requires different builds, different QA testing, and different regional distribution. It shows how much the creators cared about the joke—they’d rather pay for a "crying koala" screen than just cut the level entirely and lose the narrative flow.
How to See the Content Today
If you’re playing the game today on a modern console like the Nintendo Switch or a PS5, the censorship usually follows the regional settings of your store.
- PC/Steam: Usually follows the region of purchase, but mods exist to "uncensor" the game.
- Consoles: The North American versions remain the only way to see it natively on a disc or digital download without the "crying koala" screens.
- The Sequel: Interestingly, the sequel, The Fractured But Whole, didn't try to top this level of controversy. It went for a different kind of "edgy" humor, focusing more on race and class, which suggests that even South Park felt they had reached the "peak" of medical-based shock humor.
Honestly, the whole situation is a time capsule. It represents a specific era of gaming where "AAA" titles were finally pushing the same boundaries as prestige cable TV. It wasn't just about being gross; it was about the right to be gross.
Actionable Steps for Players and Collectors
If you're looking to experience the full, intended version of the game, here is what you need to do:
- Check your region: If you are in the UK, Europe, or Australia, your digital copy is almost certainly censored.
- Import a US copy: If you play on console (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One), physical discs are region-free. A US copy of The Stick of Truth will play the uncensored scenes on any console regardless of where you live.
- Steam Version: If you have the censored version on PC, look for "Uncut" patches in the Steam Community forums. These are fan-made files that swap the "censored" video files with the original ones.
- Watch the YouTube Archives: If you just want to see what the fuss was about without re-playing the game, search for "Stick of Truth Unplanned Parenthood Uncut." There are dozens of high-quality archives of the specific mini-games.
The South Park Stick of Truth abortion controversy didn't kill the game's success. In fact, it probably helped it. It proved that South Park wasn't going to "soften up" just because they were moving into a new medium. Whether you find it hilarious or repulsive, it remains one of the most significant moments in the history of video game censorship.