diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/cpp/strings/regex_program.pxd b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/cpp/strings/regex_program.pxd
index 4859fccb752..7818c9c7d01 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/cpp/strings/regex_program.pxd
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/cpp/strings/regex_program.pxd
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2022-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 
 from libcpp.memory cimport unique_ptr
 from libcpp.string cimport string
@@ -12,4 +12,7 @@ cdef extern from "cudf/strings/regex/regex_program.hpp" \
     cdef cppclass regex_program:
 
         @staticmethod
-        unique_ptr[regex_program] create(string pattern, regex_flags flags)
+        unique_ptr[regex_program] create(
+            string pattern,
+            regex_flags flags
+        ) except +
diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/contains.pyx b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/contains.pyx
index 007d28c21d7..82034f7f8b7 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/contains.pyx
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/contains.pyx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2020-2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2020-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 
 from cython.operator cimport dereference
 from libc.stdint cimport uint32_t
@@ -35,10 +35,10 @@ def contains_re(Column source_strings, object reg_ex, uint32_t flags):
 
     cdef string reg_ex_string = <string>str(reg_ex).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = <regex_flags>flags
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(reg_ex_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(reg_ex_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_contains_re(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog)
@@ -58,10 +58,10 @@ def count_re(Column source_strings, object reg_ex, uint32_t flags):
 
     cdef string reg_ex_string = <string>str(reg_ex).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = <regex_flags>flags
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(reg_ex_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(reg_ex_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_count_re(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog)
@@ -81,10 +81,10 @@ def match_re(Column source_strings, object reg_ex, uint32_t flags):
 
     cdef string reg_ex_string = <string>str(reg_ex).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = <regex_flags>flags
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(reg_ex_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(reg_ex_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_matches_re(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog)
diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/extract.pyx b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/extract.pyx
index 04b0140bc73..d3d8610cdf0 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/extract.pyx
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/extract.pyx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2020-2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2020-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 
 from cython.operator cimport dereference
 from libc.stdint cimport uint32_t
@@ -30,10 +30,10 @@ def extract(Column source_strings, object pattern, uint32_t flags):
 
     cdef string pattern_string = <string>str(pattern).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = <regex_flags>flags
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_extract(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog)
diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/findall.pyx b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/findall.pyx
index a3a835025bf..6df1d32dcfe 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/findall.pyx
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/findall.pyx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2019-2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2019-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 
 from cython.operator cimport dereference
 from libc.stdint cimport uint32_t
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ def findall(Column source_strings, object pattern, uint32_t flags):
 
     cdef string pattern_string = <string>str(pattern).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = <regex_flags>flags
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_findall(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog)
diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/replace_re.pyx b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/replace_re.pyx
index 9dc47195185..1fbbaa8f44f 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/replace_re.pyx
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/replace_re.pyx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2020-2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2020-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 
 from cython.operator cimport dereference
 from libcpp.memory cimport unique_ptr
@@ -43,10 +43,10 @@ def replace_re(Column source_strings,
     cdef const string_scalar* scalar_repl = \
         <const string_scalar*>(repl.get_raw_ptr())
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = regex_flags.DEFAULT
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_replace_re(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog),
@@ -73,10 +73,10 @@ def replace_with_backrefs(
     cdef string pattern_string = <string>str(pattern).encode()
     cdef string repl_string = <string>str(repl).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = regex_flags.DEFAULT
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_replace_with_backrefs(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog),
diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/split/split.pyx b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/split/split.pyx
index 8e01485425d..08c7dde921f 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/split/split.pyx
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/_lib/strings/split/split.pyx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2020-2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2020-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 
 from cython.operator cimport dereference
 from libcpp.memory cimport unique_ptr
@@ -163,10 +163,10 @@ def split_re(Column source_strings,
     cdef column_view source_view = source_strings.view()
     cdef string pattern_string = <string>str(pattern).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = regex_flags.DEFAULT
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_split_re(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog),
@@ -192,10 +192,10 @@ def rsplit_re(Column source_strings,
     cdef column_view source_view = source_strings.view()
     cdef string pattern_string = <string>str(pattern).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = regex_flags.DEFAULT
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_rsplit_re(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog),
@@ -220,10 +220,10 @@ def split_record_re(Column source_strings,
     cdef column_view source_view = source_strings.view()
     cdef string pattern_string = <string>str(pattern).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = regex_flags.DEFAULT
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_split_record_re(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog),
@@ -248,10 +248,10 @@ def rsplit_record_re(Column source_strings,
     cdef column_view source_view = source_strings.view()
     cdef string pattern_string = <string>str(pattern).encode()
     cdef regex_flags c_flags = regex_flags.DEFAULT
-    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog = \
-        regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags)
+    cdef unique_ptr[regex_program] c_prog
 
     with nogil:
+        c_prog = move(regex_program.create(pattern_string, c_flags))
         c_result = move(cpp_rsplit_record_re(
             source_view,
             dereference(c_prog),
diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/tests/test_string.py b/python/cudf/cudf/tests/test_string.py
index 10208611f13..c866e064366 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/tests/test_string.py
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/tests/test_string.py
@@ -784,6 +784,12 @@ def test_string_extract(ps_gs, pat, expand, flags, flags_raise):
         assert_eq(expect, got)
 
 
+def test_string_invalid_regex():
+    gs = cudf.Series(["a"])
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError):
+        gs.str.extract(r"{\}")
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "pat,regex",
     [