Here’s a little parable that contrasts free act with intent.
Let us say I grew an apple tree on my land so that there are apples on it.
A storm came and destroyed some of the apples.
A passerby took some apples so that her child would not starve.
A revolutionary took some apples in order to give them to all the children.
A thief took some apples and ate them.
Here we see, in succession, no human actor, a human actor who is not free, a human actor who is free and has a good intent, and a human actor who is free and has a selfish intent. The good that is destroyed: a few apples, — is the same in all cases. The natural right to the apples is mine in all cases, since I took nothing from others to grow my tree. But the right is violated when a free actor chooses to take my good, that is in the two last cases. The intent of the revolutionary and the intent of the thief are different, but the objective observed result is the same: the apple is mine; they did not have to take my apple; they took it knowing it is mine. That is natural law. The moral judgment will make a further distinction of intent and may exonerate the revolutionary based on the nobility of intent; but that would be mercy as opposed to natural law.
Let me pose a different example. Say there's a fire in a multi-story building. The fire-fighters rush up the narrow staircase to try to rescue 2 children on the second floor. Seconds count. At the top of the stairs they find a 300-lb woman collapsed from smoke inhalation--- and collapsed in such a position that she's blocking the door at the top of the stairs and the firefighters can't open it. They can't lift this woman, but they could push her off to the side so that she falls down to the first floor, then open the door and get the two children out of the building.
They know that this will probably result in at least bruises, probably broken bones, for the very heavy woman, and in any case it;s unlikely they could come back for the after they get the children out.
Are they justified in pushing her off the staircase?
You answer. Then I'll tell you mine.