diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index bd93d0f53..1730f3b32 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #4223: doctest: failing tests reported in wrong file, at wrong line
 * i18n: message catalogs are not compiled if specific filenames are given for
   ``sphinx-build`` as arguments (refs: #4560)
+* #4027: sphinx.ext.autosectionlabel now expects labels to be the same as they
+  are in the raw source; no smart quotes, nothig fancy.
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/sphinx/ext/autosectionlabel.py b/sphinx/ext/autosectionlabel.py
index bebbaa69c..a5e22dfd5 100644
--- a/sphinx/ext/autosectionlabel.py
+++ b/sphinx/ext/autosectionlabel.py
@@ -30,9 +30,10 @@ def register_sections_as_label(app, document):
         labelid = node['ids'][0]
         docname = app.env.docname
         if app.config.autosectionlabel_prefix_document:
-            name = nodes.fully_normalize_name(docname + ':' + node[0].astext())
+            name = nodes.fully_normalize_name(
+                docname + ':' + node[0].rawsource)
         else:
-            name = nodes.fully_normalize_name(node[0].astext())
+            name = nodes.fully_normalize_name(node[0].rawsource)
         sectname = clean_astext(node[0])
 
         if name in labels:
diff --git a/tests/roots/test-ext-autosectionlabel-prefix-document/index.rst b/tests/roots/test-ext-autosectionlabel-prefix-document/index.rst
index a608c5b51..10fa2662d 100644
--- a/tests/roots/test-ext-autosectionlabel-prefix-document/index.rst
+++ b/tests/roots/test-ext-autosectionlabel-prefix-document/index.rst
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ For Windows users
 For UNIX users
 --------------
 
+This one's got an apostrophe
+----------------------------
+
 
 References
 ==========
@@ -23,3 +26,4 @@ References
 * :ref:`index:Installation`
 * :ref:`index:For Windows users`
 * :ref:`index:For UNIX users`
+* :ref:`index:This one's got an apostrophe`
diff --git a/tests/roots/test-ext-autosectionlabel/index.rst b/tests/roots/test-ext-autosectionlabel/index.rst
index ac96e5cf5..bf8818fa0 100644
--- a/tests/roots/test-ext-autosectionlabel/index.rst
+++ b/tests/roots/test-ext-autosectionlabel/index.rst
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ For Windows users
 For UNIX users
 --------------
 
+This one's got an apostrophe
+----------------------------
+
 
 References
 ==========
@@ -23,3 +26,4 @@ References
 * :ref:`Installation`
 * :ref:`For Windows users`
 * :ref:`For UNIX users`
+* :ref:`This one's got an apostrophe`
diff --git a/tests/test_ext_autosectionlabel.py b/tests/test_ext_autosectionlabel.py
index 1266edbc3..b2b3685d8 100644
--- a/tests/test_ext_autosectionlabel.py
+++ b/tests/test_ext_autosectionlabel.py
@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ def test_autosectionlabel_html(app, status, warning):
             '<span class="std std-ref">For UNIX users</span></a></li>')
     assert re.search(html, content, re.S)
 
+    html = ('<li><a class="reference internal" '
+            'href="#this-one-s-got-an-apostrophe">'
+            '<span class="std std-ref">This one’s got an apostrophe'
+            '</span></a></li>')
+    assert re.search(html, content, re.S)
+
 
 # Re-use test definition from above, just change the test root directory
 @pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='ext-autosectionlabel-prefix-document')