diff --git a/Include/pyatomic.h b/Include/pyatomic.h
index 9a497a6..ab90905 100644
--- a/Include/pyatomic.h
+++ b/Include/pyatomic.h
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #ifndef Py_ATOMIC_H
 #define Py_ATOMIC_H
-#ifdef Py_BUILD_CORE
 
 #include "dynamic_annotations.h"
 
@@ -531,5 +530,4 @@ typedef struct _Py_atomic_int {
     _Py_atomic_store_explicit(ATOMIC_VAL, NEW_VAL, _Py_memory_order_relaxed)
 #define _Py_atomic_load_relaxed(ATOMIC_VAL) \
     _Py_atomic_load_explicit(ATOMIC_VAL, _Py_memory_order_relaxed)
-#endif  /* Py_BUILD_CORE */
 #endif  /* Py_ATOMIC_H */
diff --git a/Modules/_pickle.c b/Modules/_pickle.c
index 6b174f2..b03eb21 100644
--- a/Modules/_pickle.c
+++ b/Modules/_pickle.c
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 #include "Python.h"
 #include "structmember.h"
+#include "internal/pystate.h"
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(pickle_module_doc,
 "Optimized C implementation for the Python pickle module.");
@@ -4179,6 +4180,14 @@ save(PicklerObject *self, PyObject *obj, int pers_save)
     PyObject *reduce_value = NULL;
     int status = 0;
 
+    if (_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(&_PyRuntime.ceval.eval_breaker)) {
+        if (_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(
+                    &_PyRuntime.ceval.gil_drop_request)) {
+            Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
+            Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+        }
+    }
+
     if (_Pickler_OpcodeBoundary(self) < 0)
         return -1;