Among the .....

I 've started reading a series of books by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Among the Shadows, Among the Imposters, Among the Betrayed, Among the Barons, and 3 or 4 more.  These "Among" books are written for middle school children and aren't very long, but I find myself pondering some pretty heavy topics after I've read them.  The US has gone through droughts and famine and as a result families are only allowed to have 2 children.  The law has only been in effect for about 14 years.  Many families have had 3 or more children and these become the shadow children.  They have to hide because it is an automatic death sentence for them and their families if they are discovered.  Some of the topics I've been thinking about are obvious - forced sterilization of women after their 2nd child, a culture that makes pregnancy out to be unattractive and disgusting, abortion, birth control, etc.  But other topics are less obvious.  One thing the kids do to survive is get fake IDs so that they can come out of hiding.  So I've been pondering ... when is it acceptable to deceive or lie?  I was once involved in a theoretical discussion about this various topic.  If you were living during WWII and the Nazi's came to your door and you were hiding people of the Jewish faith, would you lie to protect them?  Or would you be honest and accept the consequences?  Would you allow yourself and your family to die and condem other innocent families to die?  Or would you lie and perhaps add straw to the camel's back toward your own eternal damnation?  Who knows the mind of God?  Would you be forgiven because you were protecting someone else or does all deception count the same no matter what?  And this is all brought up in my mind because these children and their families are taught to lie the day the kids are born.  As a Catholic birth control is verbotten - so if I lived in that society would I follow the laws of my Church or the laws of the land?