diff --git a/runtime/base/logging.cc b/runtime/base/logging.cc
index 2be9067..4776357 100644
--- a/runtime/base/logging.cc
+++ b/runtime/base/logging.cc
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
 
 LogVerbosity gLogVerbosity;
 
-unsigned int gAborting = 0;
+std::atomic<unsigned int> gAborting(0);
 
 static std::unique_ptr<std::string> gCmdLine;
 static std::unique_ptr<std::string> gProgramInvocationName;
diff --git a/runtime/base/logging.h b/runtime/base/logging.h
index d8954e5..15f9353 100644
--- a/runtime/base/logging.h
+++ b/runtime/base/logging.h
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@
 // 0 if not abort, non-zero if an abort is in progress. Used on fatal exit to prevents recursive
 // aborts. Global declaration allows us to disable some error checking to ensure fatal shutdown
 // makes forward progress.
-extern unsigned int gAborting;
+extern std::atomic<unsigned int> gAborting;
 
 // Configure logging based on ANDROID_LOG_TAGS environment variable.
 // We need to parse a string that looks like
diff --git a/runtime/runtime.cc b/runtime/runtime.cc
index 72dee77..46b4392 100644
--- a/runtime/runtime.cc
+++ b/runtime/runtime.cc
@@ -483,10 +483,15 @@
 };
 
 void Runtime::Abort(const char* msg) {
-  gAborting++;  // set before taking any locks
+  auto old_value = gAborting.fetch_add(1);  // set before taking any locks
 
 #ifdef ART_TARGET_ANDROID
-  android_set_abort_message(msg);
+  if (old_value == 0) {
+    // Only set the first abort message.
+    android_set_abort_message(msg);
+  }
+#else
+  UNUSED(old_value);
 #endif
 
   // Ensure that we don't have multiple threads trying to abort at once,