diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-11-16-51-51.gh-issue-153568.ast2objgc.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-11-16-51-51.gh-issue-153568.ast2objgc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..b7d413d422994ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-11-16-51-51.gh-issue-153568.ast2objgc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Speed up :func:`ast.parse` by pausing the garbage collector while the AST is
+converted to Python objects.
diff --git a/Parser/asdl_c.py b/Parser/asdl_c.py
index d53886866f54f86..2edd3cb4718e893 100755
--- a/Parser/asdl_c.py
+++ b/Parser/asdl_c.py
@@ -2117,7 +2117,20 @@ class PartingShots(StaticVisitor):
     if (state == NULL) {
         return NULL;
     }
+#ifndef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+    // Freshly converted AST nodes cannot be part of a reference cycle yet,
+    // so a garbage collection while building them cannot free anything of
+    // this tree and only pays to traverse its half-built nodes. Pause the
+    // collector while the conversion runs. PyGC_Disable() is interpreter-wide,
+    // so this optimization is not safe in a free-threaded build.
+    int gc_was_enabled = PyGC_Disable();
+#endif
     PyObject *result = ast2obj_mod(state, t);
+#ifndef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+    if (gc_was_enabled) {
+        PyGC_Enable();
+    }
+#endif
 
     return result;
 }
diff --git a/Python/Python-ast.c b/Python/Python-ast.c
index f36072dfce098c6..e501461fcc79cea 100644
--- a/Python/Python-ast.c
+++ b/Python/Python-ast.c
@@ -18544,7 +18544,20 @@ PyObject* PyAST_mod2obj(mod_ty t)
     if (state == NULL) {
         return NULL;
     }
+#ifndef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+    // Freshly converted AST nodes cannot be part of a reference cycle yet,
+    // so a garbage collection while building them cannot free anything of
+    // this tree and only pays to traverse its half-built nodes. Pause the
+    // collector while the conversion runs. PyGC_Disable() is interpreter-wide,
+    // so this optimization is not safe in a free-threaded build.
+    int gc_was_enabled = PyGC_Disable();
+#endif
     PyObject *result = ast2obj_mod(state, t);
+#ifndef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+    if (gc_was_enabled) {
+        PyGC_Enable();
+    }
+#endif
 
     return result;
 }