The Corte Constitucional, Colombia’s highest judicial body, on Monday dismissed a high-profile abortion case, declining to rule on the issue.

The move effectively preserves the legal status quo for abortion rights in Colombia, with access to abortion only in cases of threats to the mother’s life, rape or fatal medical problems for the fetus. The case, which was brought by a hardliner opposed to even those carve-outs for abortion, presented the court an opportunity to either further restrict abortion, as the plaintiff sought, or to further expand it to be generally allowed in the early months of pregnancy. By a 6-3 vote, the court elected neither path.

The dissenting judges wrote opinions asserting that they would have expanded legal access to abortion, an approach that appeared to motivate the court’s initial willingness to hear the case. By electing to dismiss the claim, however, the court’s majority also declined to rule in any new way on the matter. This absence of further clarity, while a setback for abortion rights groups, leaves the door open for further legalization efforts because it created no additional legal barriers.