MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The number of abortions performed in Wisconsin dropped by more than 8 percent last year.

The Department of Health Services reported Friday that there were 7,825 abortions in 2010. That is down from 8,542 in 2009. That is a drop of 8.4 percent.

The rate of women aged 15-44 who had an abortion in 2010 was 6.8 per 1,000, down from 7 per 1,000 the year before. That is well below the national rate of 16 per 1,000 as of the most recent data available from 2007.

The decline comes after abortions increased 3.8 percent between 2008 and 2009. Prior to that, abortions dropped for five straight years.

State law requires any facility that provides abortions to report statistics to the Department of Health Services for an annual report.