diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index 0b78301..c5b35e1 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -1665,8 +1665,7 @@
         _Py_INCREF_UNICODE_EMPTY();
         if (!unicode_empty)
             return -1;
-        Py_DECREF(*p_unicode);
-        *p_unicode = unicode_empty;
+        Py_SETREF(*p_unicode, unicode_empty);
         return 0;
     }
 
@@ -1674,8 +1673,7 @@
         PyObject *copy = resize_copy(unicode, length);
         if (copy == NULL)
             return -1;
-        Py_DECREF(*p_unicode);
-        *p_unicode = copy;
+        Py_SETREF(*p_unicode, copy);
         return 0;
     }
 
@@ -13322,8 +13320,7 @@
             return -1;
         _PyUnicode_FastCopyCharacters(newbuffer, 0,
                                       writer->buffer, 0, writer->pos);
-        Py_DECREF(writer->buffer);
-        writer->buffer = newbuffer;
+        Py_SETREF(writer->buffer, newbuffer);
     }
     _PyUnicodeWriter_Update(writer);
     return 0;
@@ -15009,8 +15006,7 @@
 
     if (t) {
         Py_INCREF(t);
-        Py_DECREF(*p);
-        *p = t;
+        Py_SETREF(*p, t);
         return;
     }