There are a number of science fiction stories about uncomfortable utilitarian choices. "The Cold Equations" is the most famous. I think Heinlein wrote a novel that had a character who was in charge of a colony that ran out of power, and so he killed half of them in order for the remaining life support to be enough to let the others live until relief arrived. No one stopped him at the time, but after they were safe, they branded him a war criminal or something like that.