diff --git a/Modules/_sqlite/connection.c b/Modules/_sqlite/connection.c
index b08b07d..08588bc 100644
--- a/Modules/_sqlite/connection.c
+++ b/Modules/_sqlite/connection.c
@@ -941,7 +941,7 @@
 
         statement = _PyUnicode_AsStringAndSize(begin_statement, &size);
         if (!statement) {
-            Py_DECREF(statement);
+            Py_DECREF(begin_statement);
             return -1;
         }
         self->begin_statement = PyMem_Malloc(size + 2);