Accessing HTTPS url from java application

How can I access SSL sites (URLs starting with https://...) just like normal HTTP URLs.

This is what i am doing, When I print the cookie it is null. Any help is appreciated

Authenticator.setDefault(new MyAuthenticator());
       
           URL url= new URL("https://...");          

//         Dynamically register the JSSE provider.
           java.security.Security.addProvider(new com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider());

//            Set this property to use Sun's reference implementation of the HTTPS protocol.
           
           System.setProperty("java.protocol.handler.pkgs", "com.sun.net.ssl.internal.www.protocol");          
         
           HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
           connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
//           System.out.println(connection.);
           String sessionID= connection.getHeaderField("Set-Cookie");
                 
           int k=0;
//           if(( k=sessionID.indexOf("="))>0) {
//               sessionID=sessionID.substring(k+1);
//           }
           System.out.println(sessionID);


 public static class MyAuthenticator extends Authenticator {
        // This method is called when a password-protected URL is accessed
        protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
       
            System.out.println("user authenticated");
            // Get the username from the user...
            String username = "userName";
   
            // Get the password from the user...
            String password = "password";
   
            // Return the information
            return new PasswordAuthentication(username, password.toCharArray());
        }
    }