diff --git a/Lib/distutils/config.py b/Lib/distutils/config.py
index 1fd53346e96..a97635f2c0a 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/config.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/config.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ password:%s
 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 0e8d65e2715..4de825a81ed 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_config.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ class PyPIRCCommandTestCase(support.TempdirManager,
 
         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 @@ class PyPIRCCommandTestCase(support.TempdirManager,
         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 df35b429d21..fbf80e3804e 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_upload.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_upload.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class uploadTestCase(PyPIRCCommandTestCase):
         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):
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ class uploadTestCase(PyPIRCCommandTestCase):
         self.assertTrue(headers['Content-type'].startswith('multipart/form-data'))
         self.assertEqual(self.last_open.req.get_method(), 'POST')
         self.assertEqual(self.last_open.req.get_full_url(),
-                         'http://pypi.python.org/pypi')
+                         'https://pypi.python.org/pypi')
         self.assertIn(b'xxx', self.last_open.req.data)
 
 def test_suite():
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 57c1c05f372..e8716b2dd78 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #12226: HTTPS is now used by default when connecting to PyPI.
+
 - Issue #20045: Fix "setup.py register --list-classifiers".
 
 - Issue #18879: When a method is looked up on a temporary file, avoid closing