[Zope] Configuring Zope's python for ssl

I need to write an external script that access pages via https. When I try this using an HTTPSConnection object I get an error stating that ssl is not available. I noticed in the socket.py file that the ssl module is available "if configured". I have found threads that show me how to configure python for ssl but I'm curious if the python that comes with Zope can be configured similarly. Any ideas? Thanks, Kevin