Myles Brand, the NCAA’s president, has asked its Committee on Women’s Athletics to review the association’s guidelines and policies for pregnant athletes.

The decision came on the heels of an explosive report this month on ESPN’s Outside the Lines program that detailed how numerous Clemson University women’s basketball players had had abortions out of a fear of losing their scholarships when they became pregnant. The ESPN report also described how some institutions may be violating federal law by taking away the scholarships of pregnant athletes.

NCAA bylaws allow female students an extra year of eligibility if they become pregnant, and the association’s sports-medicine manual provides some guidance on medical concerns related to pregnant athletes. But decisions about the participation of pregnant athletes are made at the campus level.

Only about 50 institutions have written policies to protect pregnant athletes, says Elizabeth Sorensen, a professor of nursing at Wright State University. That is up from only a handful of colleges who had policies last year, when The Chronicle first reported on problems surrounding pregnant athletes. —Brad Wolverton