diff --git a/Lib/distutils/config.py b/Lib/distutils/config.py
index 1fd53346e96d..a97635f2c0a0 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/config.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/config.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 class PyPIRCCommand(Command):
     """Base command that knows how to handle the .pypirc file
     """
-    DEFAULT_REPOSITORY = 'http://pypi.python.org/pypi'
+    DEFAULT_REPOSITORY = 'https://pypi.python.org/pypi'
     DEFAULT_REALM = 'pypi'
     repository = None
     realm = None
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_config.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_config.py
index 525bee9416ab..12593610aa8e 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_config.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def test_server_registration(self):
 
         config = list(sorted(config.items()))
         waited = [('password', 'secret'), ('realm', 'pypi'),
-                  ('repository', 'http://pypi.python.org/pypi'),
+                  ('repository', 'https://pypi.python.org/pypi'),
                   ('server', 'server1'), ('username', 'me')]
         self.assertEqual(config, waited)
 
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ def test_server_registration(self):
         config = cmd._read_pypirc()
         config = list(sorted(config.items()))
         waited = [('password', 'secret'), ('realm', 'pypi'),
-                  ('repository', 'http://pypi.python.org/pypi'),
+                  ('repository', 'https://pypi.python.org/pypi'),
                   ('server', 'server-login'), ('username', 'tarek')]
         self.assertEqual(config, waited)
 
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_upload.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_upload.py
index 4c6464a32e8a..d2696866fe21 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_upload.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_upload.py
@@ -72,11 +72,11 @@ class uploadTestCase(PyPIRCCommandTestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         super(uploadTestCase, self).setUp()
-        self.old_class = httpclient.HTTPConnection
-        self.conn = httpclient.HTTPConnection = FakeConnection()
+        self.old_class = httpclient.HTTPSConnection
+        self.conn = httpclient.HTTPSConnection = FakeConnection()
 
     def tearDown(self):
-        httpclient.HTTPConnection = self.old_class
+        httpclient.HTTPSConnection = self.old_class
         super(uploadTestCase, self).tearDown()
 
     def test_finalize_options(self):
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ def test_finalize_options(self):
         cmd.finalize_options()
         for attr, waited in (('username', 'me'), ('password', 'secret'),
                              ('realm', 'pypi'),
-                             ('repository', 'http://pypi.python.org/pypi')):
+                             ('repository', 'https://pypi.python.org/pypi')):
             self.assertEqual(getattr(cmd, attr), waited)
 
     def test_saved_password(self):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index e8054cf20290..430bec2cfa2d 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ What's New in Python 3.2.6?
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #12226: HTTPS is now used by default when connecting to PyPI.
+
 - Issue #19435: Fix directory traversal attack on CGIHttpRequestHandler.
 
 - Issue #14984: On POSIX systems, when netrc is called without a filename