diff --git a/Lib/test/test_threading.py b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
index 75235ad25dc..f977a7fbbee 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_threading.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
@@ -650,36 +650,6 @@ class ThreadingExceptionTests(unittest.TestCase):
         thread.start()
         self.assertRaises(RuntimeError, setattr, thread, "daemon", True)
 
-    def test_recursion_limit(self):
-        # Issue 9670
-        # test that excessive recursion within a non-main thread causes
-        # an exception rather than crashing the interpreter on platforms
-        # like Mac OS X or FreeBSD which have small default stack sizes
-        # for threads
-        script = """if True:
-            import threading
-
-            def recurse():
-                return recurse()
-
-            def outer():
-                try:
-                    recurse()
-                except RuntimeError:
-                    pass
-
-            w = threading.Thread(target=outer)
-            w.start()
-            w.join()
-            print('end of main thread')
-            """
-        expected_output = "end of main thread\n"
-        p = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, "-c", script],
-                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-        stdout, stderr = p.communicate()
-        data = stdout.decode().replace('\r', '')
-        self.assertEqual(p.returncode, 0, "Unexpected error")
-        self.assertEqual(data, expected_output)
 
 class LockTests(lock_tests.LockTests):
     locktype = staticmethod(threading.Lock)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 81586f071a8..5307fe86621 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -10,11 +10,6 @@ What's New in Python 3.1.4?
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
-- Issue #9670: Increase the default stack size for secondary threads on
-  Mac OS X and FreeBSD to reduce the chances of a crash instead of a
-  "maximum recursion depth" RuntimeError exception.
-  (original patch by Ronald Oussoren)
-
 - Issue #11650: PyOS_StdioReadline() retries fgets() if it was interrupted
   (EINTR), for example if the program is stopped with CTRL+z on Mac OS X. Patch
   written by Charles-Francois Natali.
diff --git a/Python/thread_pthread.h b/Python/thread_pthread.h
index ffe2c7766e3..32fd2d0ef74 100644
--- a/Python/thread_pthread.h
+++ b/Python/thread_pthread.h
@@ -18,18 +18,6 @@
 #ifndef THREAD_STACK_SIZE
 #define THREAD_STACK_SIZE       0       /* use default stack size */
 #endif
-
-#if (defined(__APPLE__) || defined(__FreeBSD__)) && defined(THREAD_STACK_SIZE) && THREAD_STACK_SIZE == 0
-   /* The default stack size for new threads on OSX is small enough that
-    * we'll get hard crashes instead of 'maximum recursion depth exceeded'
-    * exceptions.
-    *
-    * The default stack size below is the minimal stack size where a
-    * simple recursive function doesn't cause a hard crash.
-    */
-#undef  THREAD_STACK_SIZE
-#define THREAD_STACK_SIZE       0x100000
-#endif
 /* for safety, ensure a viable minimum stacksize */
 #define THREAD_STACK_MIN        0x8000  /* 32kB */
 #else  /* !_POSIX_THREAD_ATTR_STACKSIZE */