I think part of this acceptance of the "well if it saves one [usually child's] life..." - it's extremely powerful but is deceptive as it devalues the value of freedom (or some similar trait).

Yeah, "think of the children" is a rhetorical technique but also a logical fallacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_of_the_children

Another variant of this is: "What, you don't want to catch the pedophiles?"