diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index b680421..646de0e 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -2953,8 +2953,7 @@
 
 #ifdef HAVE_WCHAR_H
 
-/* Helper function for PyUnicode_AsWideChar() and PyUnicode_AsWideCharString():
-   convert a Unicode object to a wide character string.
+/* Convert a Unicode object to a wide character string.
 
    - If w is NULL: return the number of wide characters (including the null
      character) required to convert the unicode object. Ignore size argument.
@@ -2962,14 +2961,18 @@
    - Otherwise: return the number of wide characters (excluding the null
      character) written into w. Write at most size wide characters (including
      the null character). */
-static Py_ssize_t
-unicode_aswidechar(PyObject *unicode,
-                   wchar_t *w,
-                   Py_ssize_t size)
+Py_ssize_t
+PyUnicode_AsWideChar(PyObject *unicode,
+                     wchar_t *w,
+                     Py_ssize_t size)
 {
     Py_ssize_t res;
     const wchar_t *wstr;
 
+    if (unicode == NULL) {
+        PyErr_BadInternalCall();
+        return -1;
+    }
     wstr = PyUnicode_AsUnicodeAndSize(unicode, &res);
     if (wstr == NULL)
         return -1;
@@ -2986,23 +2989,12 @@
         return res + 1;
 }
 
-Py_ssize_t
-PyUnicode_AsWideChar(PyObject *unicode,
-                     wchar_t *w,
-                     Py_ssize_t size)
-{
-    if (unicode == NULL) {
-        PyErr_BadInternalCall();
-        return -1;
-    }
-    return unicode_aswidechar(unicode, w, size);
-}
-
 wchar_t*
 PyUnicode_AsWideCharString(PyObject *unicode,
                            Py_ssize_t *size)
 {
-    wchar_t* buffer;
+    const wchar_t *wstr;
+    wchar_t *buffer;
     Py_ssize_t buflen;
 
     if (unicode == NULL) {
@@ -3010,19 +3002,22 @@
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    buflen = unicode_aswidechar(unicode, NULL, 0);
-    if (buflen == -1)
+    wstr = PyUnicode_AsUnicodeAndSize(unicode, &buflen);
+    if (wstr == NULL) {
         return NULL;
-    buffer = PyMem_NEW(wchar_t, buflen);
+    }
+    if (size == NULL && wcslen(wstr) != (size_t)buflen) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
+                        "embedded null character");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    buffer = PyMem_NEW(wchar_t, buflen + 1);
     if (buffer == NULL) {
         PyErr_NoMemory();
         return NULL;
     }
-    buflen = unicode_aswidechar(unicode, buffer, buflen);
-    if (buflen == -1) {
-        PyMem_FREE(buffer);
-        return NULL;
-    }
+    memcpy(buffer, wstr, (buflen + 1) * sizeof(wchar_t));
     if (size != NULL)
         *size = buflen;
     return buffer;