diff -r 15f82b64eee0 Include/objimpl.h
--- a/Include/objimpl.h	Thu Sep 22 17:11:53 2016 -0700
+++ b/Include/objimpl.h	Fri Sep 23 02:15:21 2016 -0400
@@ -228,6 +228,10 @@
 
 /* C equivalent of gc.collect() which ignores the state of gc.enabled. */
 PyAPI_FUNC(Py_ssize_t) PyGC_Collect(void);
+  /* C API for checking and setting the state of the garbage collector */
+PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyGC_Enable(void);
+PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyGC_Disable(void);
+PyAPI_FUNC(int) PyGC_IsEnabled(void);
 
 #ifndef Py_LIMITED_API
 PyAPI_FUNC(Py_ssize_t) _PyGC_CollectNoFail(void);
diff -r 15f82b64eee0 Modules/gcmodule.c
--- a/Modules/gcmodule.c	Thu Sep 22 17:11:53 2016 -0700
+++ b/Modules/gcmodule.c	Fri Sep 23 02:15:21 2016 -0400
@@ -1596,6 +1596,25 @@
     return n;
 }
 
+/* C API for checking and setting the state of the garbage collector */
+void
+PyGC_Enable(void)
+{
+    enabled = 1;
+}
+
+void
+PyGC_Disable(void)
+{
+    enabled = 0;
+}
+
+int
+PyGC_IsEnabled(void)
+{
+    return enabled;
+}
+
 Py_ssize_t
 _PyGC_CollectIfEnabled(void)
 {