diff --git a/CHANGES.current b/CHANGES.current
index f60516cfc..873f2b402 100644
--- a/CHANGES.current
+++ b/CHANGES.current
@@ -7,6 +7,22 @@ the issue number to the end of the URL: https://github.com/swig/swig/issues/
 Version 4.0.0 (in progress)
 ===========================
 
+2018-06-12: wsfulton
+            [Python] The %pythonabc feature in pyabc.i now uses base classes
+              collections.abc.MutableSequence
+              collections.abc.MutableMapping
+              collections.abc.MutableSet
+            instead of
+              collections.MutableSequence
+              collections.MutableMapping
+              collections.MutableSet
+            as the latter are deprecated in Python 3.7 and are due to be removed in Python 3.8.
+            The classes in collections.abc.* are available from Python 3.3 onwards. If you
+            require support for Python 3.2, then copy the pyabc.i file and modify by removing
+            the few instances of the .abc sub-module.
+
+            *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***
+
 2018-06-12: olly,wsfulton
             [Python] #701 Remove support for Python versions < 2.7 and 3.0 and 3.1.
 
diff --git a/Doc/Manual/Python.html b/Doc/Manual/Python.html
index f3550baf2..799342f6e 100644
--- a/Doc/Manual/Python.html
+++ b/Doc/Manual/Python.html
@@ -6426,7 +6426,8 @@ modify the buffer.
 <p>
 By including <tt>pyabc.i</tt> and using the <tt>-py3</tt> command
 line option when calling SWIG, the proxy classes of the STL containers
-will automatically gain an appropriate abstract base class. For
+will automatically gain an appropriate abstract base class from the
+<tt>collections.abc</tt> module. For
 example, the following SWIG interface:
 </p>
 
@@ -6443,8 +6444,8 @@ namespace std {
 
 <p>
 will generate a Python proxy class <tt>Mapii</tt> inheriting from
-<tt>collections.MutableMap</tt> and a proxy class <tt>IntList</tt>
-inheriting from <tt>collections.MutableSequence</tt>.
+<tt>collections.abc.MutableMap</tt> and a proxy class <tt>IntList</tt>
+inheriting from <tt>collections.abc.MutableSequence</tt>.
 </p>
 
 <p>
@@ -6453,7 +6454,7 @@ used to define an abstract base class for your own C++ class:
 </p>
 
 <div class="code"><pre>
-%pythonabc(MySet, collections.MutableSet);
+%pythonabc(MySet, collections.abc.MutableSet);
 </pre></div>
 
 <p>
@@ -6461,6 +6462,14 @@ For details of abstract base class, please see
 <a href="https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3119/">PEP 3119</a>.
 </p>
 
+<p>
+<b>Compatibility Note:</b> SWIG-4.0.0 changed the base classes to use the
+<tt>collections.abc</tt> module instead of <tt>collections</tt> due to the deprecation
+of the classes in the <tt>collections</tt> module in Python 3.7.
+The <tt>collections.abc</tt> module was introduced in Python 3.3 and hence this feature
+requires Python 3.3 or later.
+</p>
+
 <H3><a name="Python_nn77">38.12.4 Byte string output conversion</a></H3>
 
 
diff --git a/Examples/test-suite/python/python_abstractbase_runme3.py b/Examples/test-suite/python/python_abstractbase_runme3.py
index 4fdc79935..9f99dcb54 100644
--- a/Examples/test-suite/python/python_abstractbase_runme3.py
+++ b/Examples/test-suite/python/python_abstractbase_runme3.py
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
+import sys
+
+# collections.abc requires Python 3.3+
+if sys.version_info[0:2] < (3, 3):
+    exit(0)
+
 from python_abstractbase import *
-from collections import *
+import collections.abc
 
 # This is expected to fail with -builtin option
 # Builtin types can't inherit from pure-python abstract bases
@@ -10,12 +16,16 @@ if is_python_builtin():
 if not is_swig_py3:
     exit(0)
 
-assert issubclass(Mapii, MutableMapping)
-assert issubclass(Multimapii, MutableMapping)
-assert issubclass(IntSet, MutableSet)
-assert issubclass(IntMultiset, MutableSet)
-assert issubclass(IntVector, MutableSequence)
-assert issubclass(IntList, MutableSequence)
+def check_issubclass(derived, base):
+    if not issubclass(derived, base):
+        raise RuntimeError("{} is not a subclass of {}".format(derived, base))
+
+check_issubclass(Mapii, collections.abc.MutableMapping)
+check_issubclass(Multimapii, collections.abc.MutableMapping)
+check_issubclass(IntSet, collections.abc.MutableSet)
+check_issubclass(IntMultiset, collections.abc.MutableSet)
+check_issubclass(IntVector, collections.abc.MutableSequence)
+check_issubclass(IntList, collections.abc.MutableSequence)
 
 mapii = Mapii()
 multimapii = Multimapii()
diff --git a/Lib/python/pyabc.i b/Lib/python/pyabc.i
index 12ce65985..fbd91dce4 100644
--- a/Lib/python/pyabc.i
+++ b/Lib/python/pyabc.i
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 %define %pythonabc(Type, Abc)
   %feature("python:abc", #Abc) Type;
 %enddef
-%pythoncode %{import collections%}
-%pythonabc(std::vector, collections.MutableSequence);
-%pythonabc(std::list, collections.MutableSequence);
-%pythonabc(std::map, collections.MutableMapping);
-%pythonabc(std::multimap, collections.MutableMapping);
-%pythonabc(std::set, collections.MutableSet);
-%pythonabc(std::multiset, collections.MutableSet);
+%pythoncode %{import collections.abc%}
+%pythonabc(std::vector, collections.abc.MutableSequence);
+%pythonabc(std::list, collections.abc.MutableSequence);
+%pythonabc(std::map, collections.abc.MutableMapping);
+%pythonabc(std::multimap, collections.abc.MutableMapping);
+%pythonabc(std::set, collections.abc.MutableSet);
+%pythonabc(std::multiset, collections.abc.MutableSet);